Pawn
by SunSpell80
Summary: Rose Weasley has always been the best: the strongest dueler, the fastest Keeper, the brightest student. Failure was not in her vocabulary. At least, it wasn't until she became a Trainee Auror. Now she's not worried about being the best: she's too busy trying to survive. Rating may be subject to change. CMverse. Part One of the Checkmate Series.
1. Opening

Opening

* * *

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter

* * *

When Rose Weasley was young her family went on vacation to Japan. Her mum had business there and thought it would be a good idea for her husband and kids to come along, probably envisioning them frolicking about the rice fields. In reality it rained the entire trip and Hugo came down with a terrible case of Dragon Pox, which Rose was fortunately vaccinated against. Regardless, they spent the majority of their time in a tiny flat they rented for a week. It was a miserable vacation that her family looked back on with many good-natured laughs. The most-often told story was that of the earthquake. Rose woke up at four o'clock to the sound of the earth shaking and objects crashing to the floor. When her bed began to shake underneath her she screamed bloody murder for her dad.

"Daddy! Daddy!" She had shrieked, clinging to her bedpost. "Daddy the earth is growling!" She was five at the time so it was a perfectly understandable bit of confusion. However her cousins, to whom she was identified as "Know-it-all-Rose", thought this little piece of history was the height of comedy and whenever she would stumble or be startled, they would ask, "Is the earth growling, Rosie?"

Well, as far as she was concerned, the earth _was_ growling at the moment. It shook the inside of her head so fiercely that her brain began beat against her skull. It roared at her with ceaseless mercy, dragging her from the last alluring vestiges of sleep. She slapped her hand about blindly at the shaking bedside table until her fingers curled around a familiar cylindrical object. Just as she began to lose her balance and tumble out of the bed, she gave the object a hard shake. The roaring and shaking stopped just as Rose fell to the floor.

She laid there for a moment, catching her breath and feeling a massive headache come on. Nausea began to clench her stomach and she wondered what in Merlin's name she'd gotten up to the night before.

"What in the bloody hell was that?" An irritated voice called out from the bed above.

Oh, right.

Rose's memory came back as she recalled arriving at her flat last night to discover Al had splurged on a bottle of celebratory red wine, which they had drank all of. Since Al, who was a terrible lightweight, passed out early, she had Floo'd over to Chris's flat to continue the celebration with booze, sex and even more booze. It must have been quite a lot of booze because her memory of the night was rather hazy. She couldn't remember falling asleep, or why indeed they had been celebrating in the first place.

"Rose, what the fuck?"

She shook her head clear of confusion and glanced down at the wand in her hand. "It's my alarm, sorry. I have it set so it shakes me out of bed – I'll never get up, otherwise. I must have forgot to disable it last night."

There was a groan from the bed and the sound of movement. Then: "It's six o'clock! Why's your alarm set for six?"

This was a good point: she never got up before ten if she could help it, and she hadn't needed to set her alarm in the eight months since school ended, since her only obligation was a night shift busing tables at the Leakey Cauldron. Not the most glamorous job, sure, but she needed something to pay the bills while she waited for training to begin.

Rose dropped her wand in shock. Training! That's why she'd been celebrating last night, why her alarm was set so early. She scrambled to her feet and began searching the room for her clothes, quickly locating her knickers and bra by the foot of the bed.

"Whatever. Don't answer my question." She looked back toward the bed to see Chris Toffley roll over and pull his pillow closer toward him. His left arm was draped over the cover and her heart skipped at the clearly defined muscles of his biceps: something about a bloke's arms always turned her own. Rose wanted nothing more than to snuggle back into bed with him, but she'd sworn to herself that she would wake up early to prepare for today. Besides, judging from his closed off form, her climbing back into bed after brutally waking him up would not be appreciated.

"It's my first day, remember?" Rose pulled on her pants, feeling a bit miffed that he had forgotten – never mind that she herself had forgotten only moments ago.

"Obviously." Chris mumbled into the cushion. "But why are you _up _so early?"

"I'm going to get there early and I've got loads to do," she winced and rubbed her head, "including taking some hangover cure."

"I'm out."

"That's okay," Rose reassured him as she scanned the room for her blouse. "I've got some at home."

"It'll wear off halfway through the day and then you'll be knackered."

"Not the way I brew it." Stomping her foot in frustration, she checked under the bed. "Okay, seriously, where is my blouse?'

"Kitchen." A hard edge was creeping into Chris's voice and Rose could tell he very much wanted her to leave.

Rose paused to consider this. Had she taken her shirt off there? She couldn't remember doing so, but she'd been so sloshed at that point. Picking up her wand, she gave the back of Chris's head an apologetic smiling. "Sorry for waking you up," He probably wanted her to just get the hell out already, but she was touched he'd allowed her to spend the night and had to let him know how much that had meant to her. "You should have just sent me home."

"You were too pissed. You would have ended up in Bangladesh."

"Bangladesh?" Rose giggled.

"Or something. Good night."

"Good morning." She stepped out into the kitchen and closed the door behind her. Aha. Her blouse was sprawling on top of the stove: probably not the best place for it. Rose threw it on without bothering to button it and snuck a pinch of Chris's Floo powder. She felt a bit guilty about it, because she hadn't asked permission, but he would not appreciate her going back into his bedroom. And she was not going to walk six blocks in London January with no coat. So she stepped into the fireplace and Flooed away.

She stumbled out of her tiny fireplace and into the kitchen slash living area of her own flat. Her head screamed at her for putting it through so much duress and she made a bee-line to the cabinets. Just as she was reaching up to grab the hangover cure, a quiet cough made her turn around.

Al Potter was standing in the doorway of his bedroom, his black sticking up in every direction like a porcupine. His mood appeared to be just as prickly: his arms were folded across his chest and his mouth was curved downward. His eyes widened as she turned around and Rose quickly pulled her gaping blouse together. It was nothing he hadn't seen before, but still. A girl had to have _some_ decency.

"What the _bloody hell _are you doing coming home at six in the morning looking like _that_?"

"I thought you'd be asleep," Rose replied stupidly, buttoning up her shirt, her fingers slipping over the smooth surfaces in her haste.

Al's frown deepened as he watched her. "You went to Chris's didn't you? Damnit Rosie…"

"It's not a big deal." She defended. "I don't know why you have such a problem with it."

She finished buttoning her shirt and turned back to the counter. Al's feet shuffled closer. "He doesn't treat you right, of course I'm going to have a problem with it. You deserve better."

Her fingers closed around the bottle of hangover cure and she pulled it down, before turning to Al with a huff. "It's not like he's my boyfriend. We're just sex friends."

Al cringed as she said 'sex friends.' "Yeah, and whose idea was that? It's not like you're Dom. You're a boyfriend girl, and you know it."

Rose took a swig of the potion. "I've never had a boyfriend."

"But not because you didn't want one."

Stung, Rose drew back. "Nice. Thanks for that." She felt her headache recede a bit and her stomach settle, but there was still some queasiness there. One swig was normally enough to set her right, but she'd never been as sloshed as she was last night.

"I didn't mean any offense." Al pushed her glasses up his nose slightly, something he only did when he was exasperated – or when they were indeed in actual danger of falling off his nose. Rose took another half-swig and he watched her with a critical eye. "Didn't you already take a dose of that?"

Rose slammed the bottle down. "Bugger off, Al. If I wanted someone to fret over me I would have stayed at home, instead of moving in here."

"Here" was the flat she and Al shared: a tiny, dingy, smelly flat in the Docklands. It was hardly big enough to swing a cat in, but was still more expensive than Rose could afford working fifty hours a week at the Leakey. Therefore she had accumulated quite a bit of debt to Al, who currently paid sixty percent. Once she was on her Trainee stipend, she'd be taking over sixty percent for the next half year, which meant even though her pay would go up, money would still be tight. For Rose it was worth it. Not only because it was close to The City, but also about as far away from home as she could get without crossing the Channel.

"Fine, fine," Al, being the clever and cowardly Slytherin he was, sensed danger and backed off. He ruffled his hair absently. "I'm going back to bed."

He shuffled back into his room and slammed the door, a little louder than was necessary. Rose put the vial back and headed to the bathroom. As she stepped into the shower, she thought back on Al's comments and that rubbish about being a 'boyfriend girl." She was an intelligent, strong young woman who was well within her right to carry on a casual relationship. Yes, he had wanted to be Chris's girlfriend to begin with, but this arrangement was better for everyone involved. He was terrible at relationships and if she put that kind of pressure on him he might panic and run away from her. As for Rose, she was about to begin a harrowing career that would take all of her time, energy and strength. She wouldn't have anything left over to spare for an emotional relationship. Yes, a small part of her hoped that one day Chris would develop strong enough romantic feelings for her that the thought of her with any other guy just killed him, and they could become a couple. But that was a silly fantasy and as long as she recognized it to be so, she was not in danger of getting too emotionally involved.

She stayed in the shower for longer than necessary, making sure every single inch of her was clean. Cleanliness was not a prerequisite for a Trainee but Rose knew it would make her feel much more confidant. Her clothes for the day were already laying on top of her dresser, where she'd put them after picking them out weeks ago. She lingered in front of the mirror in her bedroom for about twenty minutes, trying to optimize her makeup, so that she would appear crisp and professional, but not girly or frivolous. Then she marched into the kitchen and began preparing breakfast.

Al wandered out of his room fully dressed yet still bleary eyed. He raised his eyebrows at the sight of two eggs sizzling merrily on the stove and Rose cutting up a grapefruit. "Well, this is new. How long do you reckon it'll last?"

Rose pushed down hard against the knife. "For the rest of my life, hopefully. I have to be in peak physical condition. In order to achieve that, a healthy, full breakfast is essential. I'm going to start eating right.

"Yeah, I give it three days before you go back to eating leftover pizza." Al himself grabbed some Corn flakes and milk. "And go back to waking up five minutes before you need to leave…what time are you planning on leaving?"

She glanced at the clock over the stove. "Fifteen minutes: I need to brush my teeth and comb my hair again."

Al eyed her messy curls as if to say, "_Again_?" but wisely kept quiet. Instead, he gestured to her clothes. "Is that what you're wearing?"

Rose glanced down at her outfit. She had spent hours agonizing over the ensemble and had finally come up with her favorite pair of jeans and a Cannons shirt. Topped off with a worn but comfortable pair of trainers and her wild hair successfully contained in a ponytail, Rose felt she had achieved the perfect "effortlessly casual" look. "Yeah. Something wrong with it?"

"There's a hole at the knee," Al pointed out. Rose glanced down. So there was. "And you're wearing a _Cannon's _shirt for Christ sake..."

"It's grey."

"It's got orange writing."

"It's for good luck," Rose defended. "Look, this isn't like most peoples' first days. We're not expected to wear formal robes or Muggle suits. I don't want to look stuffy or pretentious: I want everyone's first impressions of me to be that I'm down-to-earth and low maintenance. Women have it ten times harder than men because everyone assumes they're not tough enough to crack it."

Al shook his head. "Still, I reckon most of your fellow Trainees will put in a little more effort to look nice on your first day."

"I'm not changing," She replied stubbornly.

"Of course not."

Rose stuck her tongue out at him and added her plate to the pile in the sink. He followed her to the sink, rinsed out his bowl and put it back in the cupboard before washing his spoon with soap. When she finished getting ready she returned to the kitchen to see him elbow deep in soapy water as he scrubbed furiously at one of the plates.

"Are you still at it?" Rose checked the clock and saw it was twenty to eight.

He shoved the offending dish under her nose. "Look at this! Do you even know what that _is_?"

Rose considered the black substance that clung stubbornly to the ceramic. "I think it may have been treacle tart once," She admitted.

Al recoiled. "That's disgusting. This kitchen is bloody disgusting, and it's entirely your fault. I thought since you were a girl you'd at least be hygienic, but you're even worse than James!"

"Well now, that's unfair." She snatched the plate away from him. "Besides, it's not my fault it takes you bloody forever to clean since you're terrified of using magic to help you."

"If you _Scourgified _a hole right through the wall and saw two eighty year-olds going at it, you'd be terrified too," Al remarked grimly. "But since you're not, it's even more unacceptable that you don't clean. It takes you two seconds."

"But I don't mind the mess." Rose reminded him before _Scourgifying_ the dish and setting it in the cupboard. "Come on, we're wasting time sitting here arguing. Let's get going."

She grabbed her coat from the hook by the door and Al followed suit, grumbling all the while. "It's not even a quarter til and it's not like we've got to account for much travel time."

"For you maybe, since your Department's a minute from the fireplaces." Rose closed the door behind him and secured the wards with a flourish of her wand.. "I'm all the way on the other side of the bloody Ministry."

They stepped out into the freezing London street. Due to the city's ever-rising population, the Ministry had tightened their restrictions on magic in the public view, particularly Apparition. It was no longer okay to duck into an alley or behind a trash bin. Witches and Wizards were required to Disapparate from and Apparate to designated Ministry-approved Apparition points. Because of this, Al and Rose had to travel four blocks in order to Apparate anywhere. In the summer, they had appreciated the opportunity for a lovely walk. In the winter, they dreaded the trek and became increasingly hermit-like. They had the Floo for special occasions, but with Floo powder prices skyrocketing daily those occasions became increasingly rare.

Their Apparition point was an outhouse in the middle of a small sidewalk construction site, which the Ministry had enchanted with a powerful distraction charm, similar to the one the Leakey Cauldron employed. Any Muggle who glanced at it would look away and cross to the other side of the street, not questioning why the same stretch of pavement was constantly undergoing construction. Rose entered the stall, closing the door behind her as per Ministry standards. It was surprisingly clean and smelled strongly of lilacs.

She Disapparated and stepped out of the fireplace in the Ministry. A few moments later, Al followed and they silently walked into the grand Atrium together.

"Good luck, Rose." Al called as he disappeared into the Department of Magical Equipment Control. Rose continued through the Ministry without him. In her previous visits she had been overwhelmed by all the exciting affairs going on around her, but this time she was lost within her own thoughts and anticipation. She didn't notice as her feet carried her to the second level and nearly walked into someone coming out of a doorway.

"Sorry, love!" The woman, who was short, plump and cheery dusted herself off and gave Rose an apologetic shrug. "Need to learn to watch my step!" Rose made a noise of acknowledgment but barely registered the woman barreling off again. Her entire focus was trained on the sign over the door the woman had just exited.

_Magical Law Enforcement_

Rose let out a deep exhale. The day she had prepared nearly a year for had finally arrived. Her future, her entire purpose in life was just steps ahead of her, right beyond that door. Her stomach twinged, but not from alcohol. She suddenly felt as though this had all been a stupid mistake. Every instinct in her body told her to turn on her heel and bolt in the other direction. It wasn't too late: she could still become a healer, or a clerk, or a dragon tamer.

Or she could pull herself together and walk through the damn door.

She pushed it open and stepped inside.

The entrance led to a mini-Atrium, one that was only two stories and much more minimalistic than the grand one she had just come from. The only real extravagance was a large, rotating globe in the center, but even that had its purpose. Little dots of different colors pulsed with varying frequency underneath the golden surface. Rose knew they stood for different sorts of Dark Magic activity, but she didn't know how to interpret their meanings. Around the globe was a raised platform.

_"It's state of the art magic, Rosie, really incredible stuff. You just stand on the platform, pick a spot, Disapparate and you'll Apparate to the nearest Auror-approved Apparition point, without even knowing what it looks like. It's so advanced even someone who couldn't Apparate a foot away without splinching themselves could use it perfectly."_

The lobby began to fill up and Rose noticed that most of the older Aurors were lining around the edges, leaving just her and about ten other young men and women in the center near the globe. She caught a flash of Turquoise near the back and craned her neck to find Teddy.

All the official Aurors fell silent at once, leaving just a few Trainees chatting nervously. They too quickly shut up upon realizing everyone else was utterly quiet, their attention focused on a man who had appeared at the top of the narrow spiral stairs leading up to the second floor of the Atrium.

"Good morning, Trainee Aurors," The man spoke as he walked down the stairs to great them. "Welcome to headquarters. This is where you'll be essentially living for the next year of your lives. That is, for the few of you who won't quit, crack under the pressure, become mortally inured or die. I'm not exaggerating to weed anyone out: this year is going to be the worst of your life. You will be pushed to your limits and beyond, you will wish you had never signed up for this program - hell, you'll wish you'd never been born. And only once you've been wrung totally dry and pushed past your breaking point will we give you your badge and allow you to become a real Auror. Anyone who has the slightest doubt that they will be up to the challenge should turn around and walk out right now."

A few Trainees glanced toward the door, some reflexively, others with a hint of tempted uneasiness. Rose willed herself not to look back. She'd made her decision, there was no turning back now.

After a few moments it was clear that nobody was going to leave. The man reached them and pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose with a satisfied smile.

"Glad to see it." Harry Potter declared grimly, "Welcome to Hell, everybody."

* * *

Please comment and subscribe!

Edit Number 1 For those of you who are going back and reading this again, yes I added more to the ending. It felt awkward and boring. I also cleaned up some of wordier language (got rid of a _bunch_ of adverbs)

Edit Number 2: Fixed some more typos (I had a typo in the Edit note, how embarrassing!), changed the plaque over the door to "Magical Law Enforcement" as it should be rather than "Auror Headquarters" and changed Rose's method of transportation to Floo rather than Apparition (It clashed with something I wrote later). Small changes, but they help improve the overall quality. Let me know if you find any, this is always a work in progress.

Edit 3: Changed the method of transportation AGAIN.


	2. Sizing Up

Disclaimer: I don't own the Harry Potter original characters (which in this chapter include Rose Weasley and Teddy Lupin, as well as Dominique Weasley (who is mentioned.))

Warnings: Swearing. That's mostly all there will every be warnings for, there's not going to be any explicit sex scenes (which is why this is rated T and not M). Rose has a foul mouth though, so I'll put the swearing warning before each chapter.

* * *

"Well, that was cheerful. Think anyone's ever actually kicked the bucket?"

Their little group had been ushered into what appeared to be a changing room, judging from the lockers and the foul smell emanating from them. Rose, who was crouched on the floor against the lockers nearest the doorway, looked up at the boy who'd spoken. He was a few years older than her – she had the vague impression that she'd seen him wandering about the halls of Hogwarts before – with sleek black hair and mischievous dark eyes. He was also garbed in a freshly pressed dress-shirt, tucked into a pair of smart black trousers. Much to Rose's chagrin, he was not the only one: all of her fellow Trainees looked considerably more presentable than she: there was a boy in the corner wearing robes that bordered on _dress-robes. _Even more worryingly, they all appeared to be at least several years older than her. She recognized Eric Harper, a Hufflepufff who'd graduated at the end of her fourth year, and Langdon Bletchley, a loudmouthed boy from her own house. A few others seemed vaguely familiar, but some of them she was quite certain she'd never seen before. Rose eyed an unfamiliar blonde in the corner. Of all the others, she seemed closest to Rose's own age, but they may have been because she was the smallest of all the Trainees. Indeed, with her pale blonde hair, delicate features and almost agonizingly thin body, she seemed the most fragile of all the Trainees.

As if sensing her scrutiny, the girl suddenly turned her gaze and Rose felt a shiver go down her spine. There was nothing physically extraordinary about her eyes, they were just a simple blue, but they somehow projected a calculated coldness, probably from the precise narrowing of their eyelids. Rose knew in her gut that she was being weighed and measured, evaluated as a potential ally or enemy. It wasn't a challenge, just a deeply judgmental stare, so Rose looked away, rubbed the hole in her jeans awkwardly and tried to focus on the conversation.

A tall girl tossed her hair back, looking astonished at the question the boy had asked. "Well _of course_ they have! I had a friend whose cousin died when he was just a month away from finishing his training. I heard that Trainee casualty rates account for half the deaths in the department. That's why they try so hard to discourage anyone who might be too weak, and will do just about anything to make you quit. It's a dangerous career." She spoke in a superior tone that reminded Rose instantly of her own mother.

"Ah well," The black-haired boy shrugged carelessly. "What's life without a little risk, eh?"

"I'm not worried." Interjected the largest and tallest of the Trainees. Rose definitely recognized him, but she couldn't remember his name. He been on the Quidditch team, like her, but he'd been five years ahead of her and had left school just before she joined in her third year. Judging by his impressive size, he'd probably been a beater. She watched as he lounged casually against a locker and yawned. "I spent the last few years volunteering for the West Africa Necromancer Detail. I learned how to rough it, catch my own food and bring down dark wizards. It was basically like being an Auror without the cushy Headquarters." He bragged, prompting Rose to roll her eyes and glance around, praying that nobody would let on that they were impressed.

No such luck. "Wow, that's incredible." The boy sitting next to Rose shot up and stuck out his hand. "What's your name?"

The bulkier boy encased the eager boy's hand with his own enormous one. "Travis Clagg. Yours?"

"Aiden Peirce. I think I remember you from Hogwarts. I was in Ravenclaw, a year behind you."

Travis shrugged. "I don't remember. My whole life was Quidditch, so unless you were on the House team-"

Aiden shook his head. "No, I didn't have time for Quidditch. I was the President of the Dueling Club for three straight years." He said this in a tone that suggested he thought everyone else ought to be rather impressed. Rose thought back on the limited experience she had with the Hogwarts Dueling Club. She'd been invited to join in her second year, and had talked her cousin Dom and their friend Mathew Jacoby into checking it out with her. After only thirty minutes they'd had about enough and escaped with the feeble excuse of needing to use the loo – at the same time. It had been formal, stuffy and mainly consisted of two wizards staring at each other in the center of the room and going through a series of silly steps before either one of them could attack the other while remaining a reasonable distance apart. It had been terribly boring and Rose had known even at the age of twelve that learning the exact protocols for a formal wizard's duel was never going to help her in an actual fight. That, and she couldn't imagine wasting her time around the puffed-up Ravenclaws who seemed to comprise the majority of the Dueling Club. Aiden seemed to think this alone qualified him as a promising Auror candidate for he told Travis, "I'm keeping my eye out for my biggest competition and I think you may be him."

The tall witch snorted. "Honestly Peirce, it's only been a day." Her familiar manner of address suggested that she already knew Aiden. "You haven't seen any of us in action yet."

"Well I've seen you in action, Lawson." Aiden shot back. "And I think it's safe to say you're well beneath my league."

Lawson took this in stride, biting back coolly, "Oh, you need to get over that little Dueling Club of yours. It was ages ago. Nobody cares what you did in school. It's _after _school that really matters. And while everyone else was off exploring the world and having adventures, _you _were stuck behind a desk at Gringotts."

"I was training Security Trolls!"

A girl with an upturned nose on the other side of the room let out a shrill laugh that reminded Rose very much of Cynthia Higgs, her old nemesis from school. Despite not having a good first impression of Aiden, she felt compelled to defend him.

"Everybody's here now, we're all on equal footing. Who cares what he did to earn his keep before? I was a barmaid at the Leakey." Rose spoke up fiercely, daring anyone to insult her previous job.

Fortunately her statement was met not with disdain, but with puzzlement. "A barmaid?" Echoed the black-haired boy who had spoken first. "How'd you get into the program then?"

"I applied before I was a barmaid, but I had to wait several months before training started." Rose explained, the squirminess in her returning as she realized all the other Trainees were staring at her questioningly.

"Yes, but what did you do before that?" Pressed another boy who had not spoken up until now.

"Well, I was in school…" She trailed off. Judging from the widening of her questioner's eyes, this was a mistake.

"School? You mean you applied right out of school and just got in? The first time, no _'you are a strong candidate, apply again once you've got more experience_'?"

"Er, no."

A mousy-haired girl shook her head in wonderment. "That's amazing."

Travis snorted loudly, drawing Rose's – and indeed everyone else's – attention back to himself. "Amazing? She's clearly a Weasley, they probably accepted her without even looking at the application."

A few of the Trainees looked uncomfortable at this accusation, but several were nodding in agreement or fixing Rose with hard stares. A high, clear voice sounded from the corner: "What is a Weasley?"

It was the boy wearing dress-robes. Rose could see him more clearly now and noticed he was rather pale, practically Albino minus his greasy dark hair. His face was very sallow and pinched: he was the sort of person you couldn't look at for too long without feeling uncomfortable or worrying he might catch on that you were simply staring at his bizarreness. Travis looked over at him and Rose could read his expression perfectly: What was this kid doing in the Auror program?

"Where are you from, Mars? The Weasleys were the biggest supporters of Harry Potter during the Second Wizarding War. Everyone knows that. They're war-heroes and Potter married into their family." Travis sneered down at Rose, who wished very much at that moment she were not wearing a Chuddley Cannons T-shirt. "I bet all it took was a word from _Uncle Harry _and everything was taken care of. I'm surprised you're even going through training with the rest of us commoners."

Rage bubbled in Rose's gut and she pushed herself up. Travis still towered over her, but at least she wasn't sitting down starring at the hole in her jeans. "Yeah, I didn't have to sit the entrance exam, they just gave me full marks. I lied before; I didn't even apply. They just sent me a singing telegram when I graduated _begging _me to join the program. Oh yeah, and I'm getting twice the stipend you lot are, because I'm a _Weasley _which means my life is bloody perfect and full of rainbows and fucking butterflies."

There was a cough from beside her and Rose turned to see a middle-aged wizard in the doorway. Her face grew hot, likely matching her hair. The wizard raised his eyebrows at them all.

"Good morning, Trainees. My name is Terrence Whitebloom, Senior Auror and Head of the Training Department, which means I am in charge of you all for the next year. That means I am the person you should go to for any and all questions. I am also the person in charge of your discipline unless you screw up so badly we have to get the Director involved. You should hope that never happens as you would almost certainly be cut from the program at that point, if not arrested. Yes, I have the power to cut you from the program, and no, sucking up to me will not increase your chances of making it through. In fact, it may decrease your chances. I'm looking for Aurors, not politicians. If you want to schmooze your way on up the ladder, there are plenty of other Offices in this Department."

He turned and walked swiftly out the door. The Trainees stared after him for a moment before realizing he meant for them to follow. The scuffle that ensued as all fifteen Trainees scrambled to get out the narrow doorway very much resembled a gaggle of first years attempting to escape a Potion's Classroom. By the time Rose elbowed her way through, Whitebloom was already halfway down the hall. She trotted to catch up to his quick pace as he deftly turned a corner. "The Auror headquarters is located at the entrance of this department, but this whole area is dedicated to the Department for Magical Law Enforcement. This is the largest Department in the Ministry, with good reason. There are hundreds of Offices in the Department, each dedicated to a different division of the Law. Some of you may have become an Auror because you believe that is the best way you can maintain peace in the Wizarding community. Such a belief is incorrect. Every Office in this Department is just as important as any other, because each Office provides a unique function no other Office can provide. In order to become an Auror, you must become familiar with this entire branch of the Ministry, in order to gain a fuller understanding of the laws you are working to protect, and to prevent any of you from getting a swelled head." He turned around to look at them and Rose swore she saw Whitebloom fixate sternly on Travis before continuing.

"You will undergo five stages of your training. The second stage will take place here, in the heart of MLE." They were walking swiftly through a familiar hallway. Rose quickened her pace and ducked behind a much larger Trainee, knowing that her mother's Office was near. "You will spend a month interning under various different Offices, getting to know the members of the Department and learning what each Office is responsible for. In the late afternoons you will learn basic skills from various Department Trainers, including myself." They passed by the Improper Use of Magic Office rather quickly and Rose breathed a sigh of relief. "Once that month is done we will hand you over to the MLE Patrol forces and you'll spend two months training with them for Stage Three." Whitebloom led them into a smaller lobby than the entrance to the Department. Wizards and Witches were marching around determinately in grey uniforms, while others were hunched over desks, peering at case files. "You'll learn arrest protocols, crime scene analysis, and how to patrol from the MLEP." He said as he led them toward a short man with a heavy mustache and alarmingly square beard.0

"I'm sorry, I thought we were going to be learning how to be _Aurors, _not the trained monkeys with wands." A blonde boy at the back called out stupidly, though admittedly voicing what everyone else had to be thinking.

Whitebloom didn't lose his temper: he just shrugged his shoulders and replied calmly, "One in five Trainees ends of working switching fields to the MLEP. If that's you, you're going to regret making that idiotic comment. I'm not worried though. You'll all learn after a couple of days that MLEP isn't for slackers. They account for ninety percent of the arrests in the department and get a hell of a lot more job satisfaction than Aurors or Hit Wizards do. They work themselves to the bone so that we only have to worry about the darkest wizards and when we're overstretched they pick up the slack without complaint. An Auror who doesn't respect the MLEP doesn't have a place in this Department. And for two months if any of your superiors in the Office – which would be everyone, since you Trainees are lower than the gunk that clogs up your toilet – don't think you're qualified to be an Auror, they can let the MLEP director know and _he _can cut you from the program." Rose chanced a glance back at the boy who'd spoken up and saw that he was properly chastised.

They passed through a pair of dark wooden doors and entered a musky and cold hallway. Dark doors with magically blackened windows lined the hall, while crisp, business-like paper-airplanes zipped past them. A black-clad wizard stepped out of one doorway. He saluted Whitebloom before jogging briskly past them.

"This is the site of Stage Four: The Hit-Wizard Rotation." Whitebloom's voice was low, but it sounded booming in the silent corridor. "Those of you who make it this far will train here for three months, alongside the Hit-Wizard Trainees. They rotate new Trainees through every month because they need 'em: they've got so many people quitting or dying they can never have too many incoming. Requirements to get into the Hit Wizard Training Program are not very difficult since their policy is that one's school grades says very little about one's ability to fire a lot of spells very quickly, so their training is absolutely brutal, in order to weed out anyone unqualified. About five percent of them make it through. I'm happy to say that since we pre-screen you lot pretty thoroughly and weed out a few of the weaker links before Stage Four, the Aurors' passing percentage is a little higher. I'll be up-front with you: most of you will not make it through this Stage. When Director Potter was talking about the breaking point, most Trainees find theirs here. For those of you who pass, you'll find this training absolutely invaluable. Hit-Wizards are the soldiers, the cavalry, if you will. When we track down a Dark Wizard and it's time to go in for the kill, the Hit-Wizards are the ones who'll be right there with us to bring him in." They continued past a few more eerily quiet corridors before somehow appearing back at the Auror Headquarters.

"This is the Auror Headquarters, also known as the Auror Atrium. We're located at the entrance for quick access in case of emergencies, but most of the areas behind those doors," he gestured to the doors lining the walls, "are restricted to civilians and require a special pass to enter, or must be accompanied by someone who has access. You will not be granted access to any of these areas until Stage Five: the five months you will spend training to be an Auror. He gestured them through an open doorway, waving his wand at a little red plaque by the side that read _Level 1, _which then turned green. When she passed through, Rose felt a tiny tingle on her skin.

It was a large, open space with a lot of cubicles, filled to bursting with chatting Aurors. By tradition, Aurors were a noisy lot so it wasn't surprising that this was the loudest area they had seen so far on their tour. Most of the older witches and wizards were camped out studiously at their own desks, but many of the younger ones were lounging around each other's cubicles. Rose saw a flash of turquoise and caught sight of Teddy Lupin leaning casually over the wall of another Auror's cubicle. The two seemed to be enchanting paper airplanes to dive-bomb each other. Teddy caught Rose's eye and grinned, giving her the tiniest of salutes. The other Auror took advantage of his distraction and sent Teddy's airplane spinning into the next cubicle. The inhabitant of that cubicle did not seem amused by their antics: for instead of returning the airplane, she incinerated it with a quick jab of her wand.

"This is the Bullpen." Whitebloom announced, and Rose dragged her attention back to him. "This is where we cram in all of the Rookie and Junior Aurors, as well as the Adept Aurors who haven't earned their offices yet. This is also where you will be spending a large portion of your time during Stage 5. You will shadow an Adept Auror: they will be your mentor. You will follow them around, do their paperwork, fetch their tea, do everything your mentors don't want to do themselves, and in return they will teach you the ins-and-outs of their job, give you tips for surviving, ask your input on investigations and allow you to participate in arrests and raids when they deem you ready. Yes?" He responded to the girl with the upturned nose, whose hand was stretched into the air.

"How will you decide who gets which mentor?" She looked around the room dubiously and Rose saw her eyes lingering on a portly older Auror who was hunched over his desk and scratching his nose. "Will it be based on our skills, or - "

Whitebloom released a chuckle. It was surprisingly good-natured. "Oh no. We have a big selection ceremony, everyone dressed up in their dress-robes…and then we literally draw names out of a hat. It's utterly random." He added, seeming delighted at the way the girl's mouth dropped.

She wasn't the only one who was put out. "But that puts the ones who get a good mentor at an advantage over the ones who don't!" Blurted out Aiden, shock overcoming the habit of hand-raising all Ravenclaws seemed to have ingrained into their souls.

"Your mentors will be Adept Aurors – that means they've survived Training, Rookie year, and at least five years as a Junior Auror." Whitebloom's smile had vanished as quick as it appeared. "They're _all _good mentors and you'd be lucky to learn from any one of them. But I wouldn't be worried too much about which mentor you'll get – hardly any of you will make it to Stage Five." He said this flatly, without any ominous foreboding in his voice, as if he were just stating a fact. Rose didn't doubt he was. "Anyway, there's much more to Stage Five than just learning with your mentor. You'll also be learning from the four main Divisions in the Office: Tracking, Undercover, Dueling and Strategy." He indicated to four doors that were on the other side of the Bullpen. Rose's eyes trained longest on the far left one, where she knew the Strategy Division was located. "You'll take classes there on the weekdays. You will shadow your mentors in between your classes and on weekends. Yes, _weekends_." He repeated as murmurs broke out. "When you become an Auror, your life is no longer your own: you live and breathe the job. You will all also get to experience the night shift, and I expect to here absolutely no complaints when that happens. I'm not joking. One complaint, a single _whine,_ and you're gone. Got it?" Rose nodded along with the Aurors. The corner of Whitebloom's mouth twitched. "Yeah, you guys are going to want to work on that. When you're in Stage Four under Captain Marsh, anything less than a snappy 'Yes sir!' will earn you a night spent cleaning the lavatory with a toothbrush."

Rose wasn't sure if he was joking or not. It was difficult getting a read on Whitebloom still, and she didn't know anything about him since she'd never heard of him before today. She made a mental note to always respond with 'Yes sir" and maybe even a salute for good measure: she was _not _going to be the one to test Whitebloom's statement and end up on her hands and knees scrubbing toilets.

"At the end of Stage Five, you'll be given a series of exams. If you fail a single one, you're cut from the program. This may all sound harsh, but it's absolutely necessary. Thirty years ago, before the war, the requirements to even be accepted into this program were exceedingly high. They only accepted Trainees right out of school with exceptional grades and made them pass all kinds of tests were even considered. Almost all, if not all, of you wouldn't be here right now if we still did things the same way. But we changed the system because the world can always use Dark Wizard Catchers, and the people in charge felt that some people who could be exceptional Aurors were being overlooked because they didn't have the grades. And they felt that others who had excellent grades could be far more likely to crack under pressure. That's why this program is so intensive: so that we know that those of you who make it through are truly qualified to be Aurors."

Several other Trainees were nodding and a few others were squaring their jaws, as if bracing themselves for the struggle that was to come. Rose felt anticipation burn in her gut. She couldn't wait to get started. She was already eager to demonstrate her worth, to show that prat Clagg she was more than just her family name, to prove to her mother this wasn't a result of some psychotic breakdown. Her fingers were itching to throw spells around, her toes curled up in readiness to spring forth and fight. Sure, she wouldn't do any _actual _fighting for at least a month, which she'd be spending doing boring office work…

Wait.

Rose raised her hand.

Whitebloom pointed toward her. "You have a question?"

"Yes." She lowered her hand, eyebrows furrowed. "You told us there were five stages, but you only told us four: Stages Two through Five. What about one? What's Stage One?"

Whitebloom smiled and flicked his wand. A pile of scrolls floated toward him. "I was waiting for someone to ask that." He flicked his wand again and a thick scroll whizzed into each of their hands. "These are your liability forms. Take them home, read them, fill them out, say your goodbyes and return here at six o'clock tomorrow morning for Stage One."

* * *

A/N: For those of you who are familiar with what little we know about Jo's Auror Training, it's a little different than mine. However, it's been about 30 years since that time, and according to Jo the Auror department was "Revolutionized" after the war. In my mind, one of the thing's that would definitely be revolutionized would be the training. Many heroes in Harry Potter didn't get the best grades or didn't test well, but they really shined under pressure and showed all the qualities an Auror should have. Those people would have gotten overlooked under the old system. So after the war they implemented a new system to give more people a chance, then put them under an incredible amount of pressure to see who could handle it, and who would crack.

At least, that's how it works in my head-cannon.

In my head-cannon they also found that this new system is much more efficient than the old and instead of training them for three years, they trained them for one and then put them on a probationary year (Their "Rookie" Year).

In the next two chapters we'll see more of Jo's characters (and the awesomeness that is Rose, Al and Scorpius), and we'll meet some of the more friendly Trainees...

And you'll find out what Stage One is :O


	3. Decoding

Disclaimer: I own _none _of the characters in this chapter. Yes, even Madam Primpernelle. She's also Jo Rowling's

A/N: Introducing Dom and Scorpius!

* * *

Decoding

* * *

It was only half past three when Rose left the Ministry of Magic, and she found herself bursting to talk over her first day with someone. Scorpius worked in the Improper Use of Magic Office, which she planned on avoiding for as long as possible, and Al was downright crotchety when interrupted at work. That left Rose's third choice for a confidant: Dom.

Dom was also at work, but her work ethic left much to be desired when compared to Al's. Or anyone's, really. She was currently serving as a cashier at Madam Primpernelle's Beautifying Potions, which was the third job she'd worked since graduation. She'd held onto this one longer than the others, but judging from the wary eye Madam Primpernelle was sending their way, Rose guessed she wouldn't be there much longer. Dom either didn't notice or care that her boss was watching her like a hawk as she continued to unroll the scroll of Rose's liability form, her eyes widening continuously.

"'…section five: superficial injuries. I acknowledge that I may come into contact with substances and creatures that may burn me. The Ministry is not responsible for any first, second, third or fourth degree burns received during Stage One. However they _will _assume responsibility for any _fifth _degree burns received.' Well that's just bollocks, isn't it? There's no such thing as a fifth degree burn!" Dom looked over at Rose, expecting her to agree, but Rose shook her head.

"No, there is, but it's incredibly rare." She didn't look up from her inspection of _Bibbleforth's Boil Banisher_ _– for those nasty boils that appear five minutes before the big date! _"It's a burn that is so intense it actually burns your soul. It's one of the few things that can damage a ghost."

"Oh," Dom looked slightly put out, the way she always did when someone stole her thunder. "Well, at that point you'll probably be dead, so you'll have a lot more worries than suing the Ministry!"

"That part's for the families." Rose put the boil cream away, deciding that it, along with everything else in the shop, would not be exceptionally useful for whatever adventure she was about to be sent away on. "They're basically saying my mum has a right to blow her nut if I die from a soul-burning."

"But apparently not if you get stampeded by a herd of centaurs," noted Dom. "I suppose they reckon if you're stupid enough to piss off a herd of centaurs then your family doesn't deserve any compensation for your loss."

"Or they don't want to get involved in the political implications."

Dom considered this as she leaned back against her abandoned cashier post. "Nah, I think I'm right." She brushed a few strawberry-blonde strands out of her eyes. Oh listen to this: 'I also sign away my right to sue the Ministry if I am to lose any appendages during Stage One, including but not limited to arms, fingers, legs, toes, my nose…' I'm fairly certain the 'not limited to' part is in there so they didn't have to put 'my penis' in an official document."

"Excuse me!" Harrumphed Madam Primpernelle, abandoning the pretense of cataloguing Hair-Growth Potions. "I'll not have you using such offensive language in my shop!"

"There's nobody here!" Dom replied, gesticulating wildly, the scroll still in her grasp. "There's nobody to offend!"

"_I _am offended and _I _am your boss!" Madam Primpernelle drew herself to her full height – a less than five feet. "If you don't tone down the language and find something useful to do in the next five minutes, I'll send you packing!"

Dom rolled her eyes and handed the scroll to Rose, gesturing for her to follow her to the back room. "Bloody bitch," she muttered once the door was closed. "Like she could find anyone else to take this job. She's a nightmare, worst boss I've ever had."

"Worse than the bloke who made you clean up vomit without your wand?"

She considered this. "All right, second worst." Dom conceded, picking up a clipboard off the hook on the wall. "Still, she's ridiculous. She's just pissed we haven't had a sale all day, and she's taking it out on me. _I'm _the one who should be pissed: she promised me she'd need me November through the end of January, during the busy season, but hardly anyone's been in since Christmas. And now she keeps saying that if we don't pick up she'll have to let me go, _two weeks early_." She scribbled something on the clipboard angrily with the attached quill.

Rose watched her sympathetically, and a bit awkwardly. It was rare to see Dom get down about work like this. She typically kept up a very positive pretense; acting as though there was nothing she'd rather be doing than drifting between terrible jobs and living in her old room at home. "I'm building character," She'd said to Rose once. "This is exactly the sort of stuff they love to write about in player interviews: how they struggled before they became famous. All the best players didn't get picked right away after school. They got rejected time and time again until they were discovered. I'd rather do it this way than start out on the Cannons like James did." It was all a load of codswallop, but Rose never had the heart to call her out on it.

Dom had never been good at school. She'd always had to try twice as hard to be as good as everybody else, and had given up trying by her fourth year. That was when she joined the Quidditch team. She'd been a very girlish child and thus had never really flown with Rose or any of their other relatives. Dom always liked to exaggerate and say she never flew before her first lesson at school, but she'd had a few unimpressive experiences before then. It was certainly true that Dom had never played Quidditch before her fourth year. Rose, who had joined the team in her third year along with Matt Jacoby, had not been expecting much from her cousin. Little Dom had looked almost comical holding a beater's bat during tryouts, trying to stay balanced on her broom. But as soon as the whistle blew, it was like some sort of warrior spirit possessed her. And ever since that moment, Dom had lived and breathed Quidditch. She wasn't the most elegant player, but she was always the fiercest and Rose felt totally protected when she knew Dom was on her side. So when Matt was made Quidditch Captain instead of her, it was a big blow for her. An even bigger blow came nine months later, when the Appleby Arrows, the only team with a beater spot available, rejected her swiftly and without hesitation. Since then, Dom had been utterly directionless.

Currently, Dom was holding up a large box and squinting at the label. "You know, I think it's total crap the way they handwrite these. If you're going to write out instructions on a million boxes, make sure the person who's doing it's got good handwriting."

"Mmm." Rose agreed almost soundlessly, directing her attention back to the liability form. "You know, some of these scenarios are so obscure…there's no way there's a possibility that all these could happen. Or even…" Her eyes narrowed as she read through a particular section. "Okay, this one would never happen in a million years. 'Head cut off by Hydra claw…' Hydras have been extinct for centuries!" She squinted at the text. "And I think they're trying to be ironic."

Dom shrugged. "Ok, so they hid a dumb joke in there. They probably figured you were all just going to sign it and weren't going to bother reading it. Or they're exaggerating how dangerous it'll be and are trying to scare you guys."

"No, it's more than just that one." Rose clutched the scroll tightly. "They were being mysterious about Stage One on purpose: this is the only piece of information they gave us. At first I thought they were just covering every possible scenario so that we wouldn't have a clue what Stage One is. Now I think that's exactly what they wanted: to give us a clue!" She hugged it tightly to her chest as if it were a small child. "They made it seem ridiculous on purpose to make sure we really looked at it and did more than sign it. It's a test! Now I just have to figure out what it means."

Dom held up her hand. "Ok, I'm going to stop you right there. You've got your Mystery Face on and I'm not interested in playing Scrappy to your Scooby Doo."

"I'm sorry, what?"

"It's a Muggle cartoon I saw once when I was sick, I figured you – you know what, forget it. My point is, go find one of your nerd friends and geek out to them about it. You're already giving me a headache." Dom stood on her tiptoes, reaching for a box high on the shelf.

"I can't, they're still at work."

Dom was now stretching as far as her body would allow. "Still?"

Rose frowned and pulled out her most precious possession after her wand out of her back pocket: her dad's old watch. "What do you mean, it's not even – bloody hell, where did the time go? It's past five!"

"Which means it's about time for me to split this joint." Dom's fingers brushed the box she was aiming for. "Well, whatever this mysterious Stage One is, it sounds like you'll be gone awhile. Hopefully by the time you get back I'll be finished with this place for good."

"What are you going to do next?" Rose tucked the scroll very carefully into the messenger bag she'd brought along.

"I talked to Mrs. Longbottom, she said if the replacement they found for you doesn't work out I could have your old job."

"You should have told me you'd be needing another one, I could have recommended you in the first place."

Dom dropped back down onto her heels and let out a huff. "It's not a big deal, I'll probably get the job anyway." Rose very much doubted it. "Alright, this is bloody ridiculous, I'm summoning it."

She pulled out her wand and Rose beat a hasty exit. Dom had the ability to make even simple spells go awry and though the initial devastation was bad, the ensuing temper tantrum was always much worse. Even though they got on fairly well, there was a reason why Rose and Dom had not been best friends in school. They'd had many an argument throughout the seven years they'd lived together and Rose had been quite happy to leave Dom and her other roommates behind to live with Al. She was the closest thing Rose had to a sister and they seemed to have a very typical sibling relationship: full of petty fighting and occasional hair pulling, but strong enough that they always knew the other one had their back. It had been Rose who first helped Dom come out of her shell back in second year, Rose who taught her to swear and throw a punch like a boy. James always joked that she'd created a monster, but she knew nobody and nothing could have kept Dom contained for long. She had the most heart of anybody Rose knew, but hadn't learned the ability to channel it correctly yet.

Regardless, Rose loved her deeply and was pleased they'd grown closer in the past eight months. They got along much better when they spent bits and pieces of time with each other. Their experiences with manual labor type jobs had also been a major bonding point with them. She'd been worried that Dom would jealously shut her out now that she had a "real job." So far, there didn't seem to be any sign of trouble, but Rose knew her cousin well enough to be on her guard.

Once she exited the shop, she wondered where to go from there. Al would probably be home, with dinner in the oven – he was the mother in their little living arrangement – and some excellent insights. However, Scorpius had an impressive collection of books in his beautiful townhome and was definitely the wordsmith of the trio. Yes, Scorpius would be her first stop.

She spun on the spot and Apparated into the alley next to his place. Apartments next to Apparition points were always in outrageously high demand. At first Muggle landlords were utterly befuddled by the sheer number of oddly dressed people suddenly interested in renting their property, and would often find themselves compelled to forget they had already signed the lease to someone else when they came into contact with a Confundus charm or, more seriously, and Imperius Curse. Eventually the Ministry had intervened and bought all the apartments outright, and created an orderly system in which witches and wizards could bid on renting the apartments for a year, or buying them from the Ministry. So in the end only families with ridiculous amounts of money came into possession of the apartments The Malfoy townhouse, which was located in Mayfair, possibly most posh of all the London areas, was one such apartment. Scorpius's grandfather had presented it to him as a graduation present and Scorpius had accepted it, understanding full well that it was a bribe.

Rose wrapped her arms tightly over each other. Her dragon-skin jacket was warm, but it wasn't enough to battle the sudden drop in temperature she was experiencing. She hurried around the corner and up the steps, ringing the bell repeatedly until Scorpius flung the door open.

He regarded her shivering on his step with a half-smirk before ushering her inside. "Come on, you're going to freeze to death. What are you wearing, are you an idiot?"

She ignored that comment as she stomped the snow off of her trainers and onto his welcome matt. "That's nice. No, 'Oh Rose, it's so nice to see you, what a pleasant surprise?'"

"I got over the surprise part when you kept ringing my doorbell. Everybody else just rings once like a normal person. Oh no, shoes off." He added when she tried to step off the matt and onto his sparkling clean floor. "My grandmother's coming tomorrow and I'm not going to sit through an hour long lecture because of you."

Rose pulled off her soggy trainers and set them by the door. "Honestly, you Al are such girls."

"It has nothing to do with femininity and everything to do with class," Scorpius told her in a superior voice. He looked down at her feet and the corner of his mouth twitched. "Nice socks."

Rose glanced down as well and saw that while one sock was a normal, un-embarrassing white, the other had little monkeys eating bananas. She shrugged. "It was Orientation today. I figured I'd dress for the occasion." It was a lot toastier insider Scorpius's house than outside, but she still kept her jacket on. She doubted that she'd warm up for several days.

"Oh yeah, how was that?" Scorpius made as if he were about to lead her through the house, then gave a quick jerk toward the door to regard her trainers that were currently leaving watermarks on his welcome matt. "Did you just get out?"

"No, we finished hours ago." Rose watched as he dried off her trainers with a quick and precise "_Siccesco." _"Have you ever been tested for OCD? I think you should."

Now it was Scorpius's turn to ignore her comment. "Hours ago? Why didn't you come by?" He sounded vaguely hurt as he followed her to the library.

Rose paused in the doorway and gave a snort. "Scorpius, I'm not ever going to visit your Office if I can help it." He was oddly quiet as she continued on into the narrow but tall room. Rose had never been the voracious reader her mother wanted her to be. Books weren't her favorite things in the world by far and she definitely didn't read boring history tomes for fun. However she loved a good story and there was nothing quite like the smell of books. Each one had its own unique scent, whether it was a fresh volume straight out of the press, the ink still warm on the page, or a well-loved manuscript with coffee-stains warping the words. Scorpius's personal library had a particularly inviting smell, and it was always wonderfully warm.

"So do I get the courtesy of knowing why you marched into my house like you owned the place?" Rose was pulled out of the library's lull by its owner's sharp voice. She turned and saw instantly that he had suddenly become rather peeved with her.

She pulled out the scroll from her bag. "At my Orientation they told us our training would take part in five stages. They went over stages two through five with us but left out stage one until the end when I specifically asked about it."

"Figures you would be the one who couldn't keep your mouth shut." Scorpius muttered harshly.

Rose raised her eyebrows at his sudden hostility. "It's lucky that I did, because that's how we found out that Stage One was this big mystery and we're just expected to show up early tomorrow morning without them telling us anything! Then they gave us this huge liability form," she shook the scroll, "and sent us home. I went over to Dom's work and talked it over with her, and realized that it's a clue. There's a riddle or something in here and I was hoping maybe there'd be something in one of your books that could help me solve it."

"Oh, excellent." He sneered at her. "I'm your personal library, then? There's one of those at the Ministry, you know."

"Yeah, and I also know that they're closed now!" Rose countered hotly. "And I was also hoping to maybe get some help from you, but if it's such an inconvenience, I won't bother."

Scorpius scowled. "I'm not your tutor, either. Go ask Al." Rose stared at him, wondering what could have set him off like this. He'd been in a seemingly great mood when he answered the door, though she knew better than anyone that he was extremely sensitive and could misinterpret even the slightest thing…

She thought back and realized. "Are you mad because I said I would never visit your Office?" He didn't answer. Bingo. "Bloody hell, I wasn't saying that because of you! My mum works there too, you twat!"

Scoprius visibly relaxed. "I knew that," He lied rather poorly, and Rose wanted to hit him over the head with something heavy. He could be such a _child _sometimes. It was possibly his worst flaw. "Though I don't see why, your mother's amazing. I'd kill to have her as my mum."

No, _that _was his worst flaw. "You only think so because you see her at work and think she's some kind of superhero genius." Rose dropped her bag to the floor and settled into one of Scorpius's cushy armchairs. It was almost as comfortable as the ones in the Gryffindor Common Room. "You've never had to _live _with her. She's a controlling, hysterical, bloody _nightmare._"

He joined her in the nearest armchair. "At least she's a productive member of society, instead of a vapid, narcissistic harpy like _my mum_." He slapped his forehead. "That reminds me, I promised Cynthia I'd meet her for lunch today! I got caught up with work and completely forgot, I can't believe it."

"I can." Rose leaned back in her chair, arching her back like a cat. Cynthia Higgs was possibly her least favorite year mate from Hogwarts Rose would be quite happy if she never saw her face again. Unfortunately, she was also one of Scorpius's oldest friends, so that was unlikely to happen. The last Rose had heard, she was vacationing in Italy, but apparently she was back. "I believe that unconsciously you _wanted _to forget."

"Oh, she's not so bad."

"You're the one who just associated her with the description 'vapid, narcissistic harpy!'"

Scorpius shook his head. "No, that's unfair to her. She just reminds me of my mum a little. She's really not so bad once you get to know her. I think you two could be friends."

"That will never happen." Rose said firmly.

"Why not?"

"She put _eggs _in my _hair_!" She saw Scorpius visibly struggling not to laugh and gave a sigh of resignation. "Go on, then."

He chuckled merrily at the memory of the Ball in their Fifth Year. Rose watched him with bemusement. Most people would be amazed that they could go from being at each other's throat one second, to joking around the next. In her mind, that's what constituted true friendship: the ability to laugh with each other moments after wanting to kill one another. It was the sort of friendship she thought only existed in books and her parents' stories before she, Scorpius and Al had become friends. Well, with Al it was really like rediscovering an old friend: they had been inseparable as children, and her parents, Uncle Harry and Aunt Ginny always liked to tell embarrassing stories about how they bathed together. She'd lost him for a bit when he'd been Sorted in Slytherin and she to Gryffindor, but they'd found their way back in Sixth Year, when she'd befriended Scorpius. Al, who had bad history with Scorpius, had tried to intervene and had found himself getting sucked into their friendship as well. Scorpius, who was always the corniest one of the group, liked to say that their friendship was inevitable and destiny. Rose just thought it was good luck.

Scorpius quieted down and regained focus. "Okay, so where's this mysterious clue?"

She handed it to him and watched him unravel it. "At first I thought they were trying to just cover everything so we wouldn't know what to expect. But now I think-"

"That there's a hidden message in here." Scorpius concluded, his eyes darting from side to side as he absorbed the information. "Yeah, I think you're right. Look at the formatting of this." He laid it out flat on the floor between them and she leaned over to see. "Each section is clearly divided, with an unnecessary amount of space between them. This scroll is so long, why would they waste parchment on that?"

Rose pointed to the space between Section 4 and Section 5. "And some of them are even longer than the others. Look, Section 5 has two big spaces surrounding it."

Scorpius was crouching down on the ground now as he leaned over the parchment. "Some of them are definitely bigger, you're right." He measured the distances with his fingers. When he reached the end, he looked up at Rose. "There are two sizes. The larger one is twice as long as the shorter one. There are nine short ones and three long ones. And the pattern is…" He looked back at the parchment and counted again. "Three short, two long, three short, one long, three short."

"In Morse Code that would be," Rose wracked her brains for a second, "S, M, S, T, S."

"Smsts?" Scorpius tried to say jokingly, then asked seriously, "Is that an acronym for something? Does it mean anything to you?" When she shook her head, he turned behind him and pulled a piece of parchment and quill out of the desk against the wall. "Here, let's look at it." He wrote it out and they both stared at it for a moment.

"Sunday, Monday, Sunday, Tuesday, Sunday?" Rose pondered.

"Probably not, and the S would stand for Saturday anyway." Scorpius replied. "If one of the days of the weeks gets designated the 'S' it's always Saturday and Sunday gets stuck with the 'Su.' I don't know you'd think of Sunday."

"It's my favorite day of the week." She defended. "And we're getting off track. They could be days, they stand for days when something important is going to happen."

"Meh. That's a big stretch and Morse Code is awfully Muggle for the Auror Office to use. Some sort of magical code is more likely." He regarded the parchment again. "That's an awful lot of writing for them to do if all they cared about was the spaces."

"You think the code's hidden inside the writing?" Rose stared at the words and started to feel a headache coming on. She suspected that it was mostly from her hangover cure starting to wear off: perhaps she'd been overconfident in its potency. She shook her head. "Ugh, I can't look at it for too long. It would be better if it were straight…" She trailed off and thought about what Dom had said earlier about the boxes. "Hold on, if this is an official Ministry document, why didn't they print it? If they handwrote this, they had to do it fifteen different times. Unless-"

"Unless it _was _printed and they made it shaped like this on purpose." Scorpius finished for her, shooting her a grin. "Genius, that's genius. I wonder what it means. I've got a book on patterns, I can go get it."

Rose pushed down his shoulder lightly as he made to stand up. "No, I don't think that's necessary. Look, most of the lines are actually fairly even, there's just about…" She did a quick count. "Seven lines that are disrupting the flow of the rest."

"Okay." He sat back down against his heels. "And there's five lines before the first one, then twelve, then nine, then two…" He rubbed his forehead. "This doesn't look like any pattern I've seen."

She smiled suddenly and pushed the scroll toward him. "That's because you're thinking too hard. It's much more intuitive than that. Look at the first letter of every slanted line: it's a simple acrostic code! P, Y, T, H, A, G, O, R, A, S. Pythagoras." Her smile dropped. "So, the code is a muggle mathematician? No, there are still those weird spaces. Do you think they have something to do with a triangle?"

Now Scorpius was the one to smile, but his was more of a condescending smirk. "Pythagoras was a wizard, Rose. He was a master of Numerology, which you'd know if you'd _taken _Arithmancy. The answer to your code lies in Numerology, that's what they're trying to tell you." She watched him and waited for him to say more on the subject, but he just sat there, with that stupid grin on his face.

Finally she snapped. "Well, what are you waiting for then? Go on, show off."

"Not until you apologize for all the times you called me a swot for loving Arithmancy."

Rose gave a very deep sigh and gritted out, "I'm sorry I called you a swot…for liking an extremely boring subject."

"Close enough," He permitted, before leaning back over the scroll. "There are too many words in this for them to want you to calculate each and every number individually – that would just leave you with a string of random numbers. So the next step would be to look at the first word in every section –"

"Which is 'I.'" She interrupted. "And I don't know much about Numerology, but I'm pretty sure the word 'I' has the same meaning no matter where it's placed on the page."

"Would you let me finish?" Scorpius scowled at her, looking very much like Al whenever he was elbow-deep in dismantling some sort of contraption. "I was going to say that it's obviously not that, which leaves the first word of every line. So that's nine, four, six, two…" He went on, scribbling down numbers until he had a list of over a hundred numbers. Then he rubbed his forehead. "Well, this is a headache."

"What do we do with these?" Asked Rose, who was finding the list of numbers far more disconcerting than when they were in their word-form. "And how did you get them?"

"Each letter has a numerical value, one through nine. To calculate a word's numerical value, you translate each letter to its numerical value, and then add all the numbers together. If it's more than one digit, you keep adding the digits together until you get a single digit: one through nine. And that's the word's numerical value."

"Er…"

"So say, you had the word 'snake.'"

"Really, snake?"

"Yes, snake. The value of 's' is one, the value of 'n' is five, 'a' is one, 'k' is two, and 'e' is five. Add them all together and you get fourteen. Then you add the one and the four together, which gives you five. The value of the word 'snake' is five."

"Oh." Rose's brain clicked in comprehension. "So you just added all the letters together, basically. Well that's really simple, I don't see why you needed to take five years of Arithmancy to understand that."

Scorpius gave her a look that was half pained, half incredulous. "There is _so _much more to Arithmancy than Numerology, and there is _so _much more to Numerology than what you just learned. We were taught that in the first five minutes on our first day." He looked back over the numbers. "Each of these numbers has an individual meaning, and depending on which numbers are near each other changes the message. If I had at least a day, I could crack it."

"A day?" Rose couldn't believe she was hearing this. "I thought you were supposed to be good at this!"

"Well, this is an incredibly complex string of numbers." He defended. "And they're not taking any pattern I've seen before – and we studied every known Numerology pattern in history – so I'd have to start from scratch and rely half on my gut instinct about what's right."

Now Rose was rubbing _her_ forehead. "Okay, that can't be right. They know we're Trainees, we don't have access to the kind of resources we would have as Aurors to crack something like this. So if it turns out to be some kind of crazy problem my friend who was top of his Arithmancy class can't figure it out, then they must mean for it to be impossible. But it wasn't easy getting to this point, so unless this is all just a big trick…" Her eyes went to the parchment where they'd first written down the Morse translation of the spaces. "I think the spaces play into this somehow, but I don't think they're supposed to be more. What if they're supposed to separate the groups of numbers into more manageable chunks? Could you figure out their meanings then?"

Scorpius went through and drew a line between some groups of numbers, and a double line between others, to symbolize the length of the space. After a moment, he shook his head. "It's still awfully random."

She wracked her brains. "You were talking about adding digits of numbers together. Maybe you're supposed to do the same here?"

He frowned. "That's awfully unconventional. It wouldn't end up meaning anything."

"But for the purpose of a code…"

He nodded, and started scribbling onto the parchment again. "Okay, then that would give us a five, another five, a nine, then a big space, a five, another big space, a five, a one, a nine, a four, another big space, then a three, a six, a one, and a two." He threw down the quill. "And it _still _doesn't mean anything."

Rose looked at the parchment. Five, space, five, space, one, space, nine. Big space. One. Big space. Five, space, one, space, nine, space, four. Big space. Three, space, six, space, one, space, two.

"See, I could keep adding the numbers until I get six," Scorpius was saying. "And single digits only make sense in the Pythagorean system for names, because they describe a personality. It needs to be in groupings of three so that I can do diagonal series, but there's just no way to divide them so it comes out even." He suddenly brightened. "My uncle just gave me a book on codes, for Christmas, I haven't even looked at it yet. It's just sitting on the table in the corner."

"Scorpius," Rose explained patiently. "This is a top-secret Auror code. It's not going to be just lying around in some book. Besides, that would make this way too easy. This is a test of my abilities and resourcefulness. It's going to be something incredibly complex."

"But-"

"Leave the book, we're solving this ourselves." She felt a surge of excitement in her gut. "I think those short spaces are meant to just let you know you're supposed to stop adding the numbers. Those long spaces are actually meant to separate them, almost like spaces between words…Could you revert the numbers back to letters?"

Scorpius looked at her as though she were a hydra and had grown an extra head. "That's incredibly unorthodox. Besides, if we were going to do it that way then we should have calculated _all _of the words in each section…which would have taken a bloody age…"

"If this doesn't work out, we'll try that." Nothing could deter Rose now. The answer was close: she could feel it in her bones like when she was just a few moves away from checkmate.

"No, if this doesn't work I'm consulting the book." Scorpius countered. "And the problem with what you want me to do is that one through eight have _three _possible letters that correspond to them."

"What about nine?"

"It only has two."

"So we'll start there. What are the letters?"

"'I' and 'R.'"

"Okay." She thought for a moment, before nodding. "Let's go with 'R' for now, there are more four letter words that end in 'R' than 'I'. What about five?"

"'E', 'N' and 'W.'"

"There's definitely an 'E' in there…I'm willing to bet my life's savings the second letter is an 'E'."

"You've been working at a pub for eight months. You don't have any life savings." Scorpius shifted closer, obvious reinvested into this puzzle. "If the second letter is an 'E', the first almost has to be an 'N' or a 'W'. So if we choose 'N' that could give us 'N, 'E'…I'll bet that one is an 'A'! Near! The first word is 'Near.'"

Rose scribbled it down underneath the first grouping. "And that actually makes some sense, maybe they're giving a hint as to the location. So one is 'A'?"

"Or 'J' or 'S.'" Scorpius took the quill from her and wrote under the numbers. "But the single one has to be an 'A' it's the only thing that makes sense. So 'Near A' is what we have so far."

"What could four be?" Asked Rose, skipping ahead.

"'D', 'M' or 'V'."

"Let's rule out 'V' for now. 'Near A Nard.' 'Near A Narm.'" Rose shook her head.

Scorpius snapped his fingers. "This five is 'W'. So it's either 'Near a Ward' or 'Near a Warm.' Whichever one it is will depend on the next word." He scribbled down 'Ward' and 'Warm' directly under the third group. "Okay, three is 'C', 'L' or 'U.' It could be any of those, they're all pretty common to start a word with. Six is 'F', 'O', and 'X'."

"Fox!" Rose grinned, then looked thoughtful. "Didn't you say all the numbers added up to six? Maybe 'Fox' is the clue."

"Didn't _you _say this code was going to be incredibly complex?" He raised a judgmental eyebrow at her. "You really think it's that simple? I thought you were supposed to be intelligent."

"You're so mean to me."

"No, if I were truly mean I'd let you believe that 'Fox' was actually the clue and send you off to your mysterious Stage One utterly unprepared." Scorpius tilted the parchment so it was at a better angle. "Either six or one in the last group has to be a vowel. So the word contains either an 'A' or an 'O.'"

"Or both."

"Or both." He conceded. "Two is 'B', 'K' or 'T'. So it starts with 'C', 'L' or 'U', has an 'O' or an 'A' in the middle, and ends with 'B', 'K' or 'T.'" He looked up at her and shrugged helplessly. "We could just run through a bunch of combinations, starting with 'L' and 'A' in the middle."

"If it starts with 'L' and has 'A' in the middle, then the six has to be 'O'." Rose observed. "The same goes for if it starts with 'C'. So words that start with 'L' and 'C' have to have an 'O' after them, and words that start with 'U' have to have 'F' or 'X' after."

"I think we can rule out 'U' for now, unless we can't find anything else. So it begins with either 'L' or 'C' and the second letter is 'O'." Scorpius added that to the last line underneath the original string of numbers.

"What were the other options for one?" She propped her chin up under her fist to keep her head from dropping with exhaustion.

"'J' or 'S.'"

"Hmm…" She pondered this. "Los, Loj, Loa, Cos, Coj, Coa…"

"Leave 'J' out for now."

"Los, Loa, Cos, Coa…"

Scorpius wrote those down. "It could be any of those. Ok, now add 'B' to those."

"Losb." Scorpius crossed something out. "Loab, Cosb, Coab."

"None of those." He told her helpfully.

"Yeah, thanks I know. What about 'K'? Losk, Loak, Cosk, Coak. Wait, isn't that some sort of Muggle drug?"

Scorpius didn't pause in his furious crossing out. "That's not how you spell it. Try 'T'."

"Lost." Scorpius drew a big circle around the word. "Loat, Cost and Coat. Yeah, I feel like 'T' is a winner." Rose added.

"So we've got six possibilities right now: 'Near A Ward Lost', 'Near A Warm Lost', 'Near A Ward Cost', 'Near A Warm Cost', 'Near A Ward Coat' or 'Near A Warm Coat.'" Scorpius shrugged helplessly. "The only ones that make anything resembling sense are the first and the last one. I'm leaning toward the first, because it sounds much more important and mysterious than 'Near A Warm Coat.' Maybe you're going to some creepy abandoned mental health ward."

Rose shook her head. "I don't know…I feel like "Warm Coat" is the right combination. Those two words fit together too well. Maybe it's the first part that's wrong." She tried to read through Scorpius's past scrawls. "What were the alternatives to 'N' again?"

"'E' or 'W'."

" 'Eear A Warm Coat'…'Wear A Warm Coat.'" Rose snapped her fingers and grinned at Scorpius. "Wear a warm coat. That's it! We solved it!"

He looked doubtful. "That can't be it. There could be some other combinations we're missing, we could have manipulated this to mean anything…"

"No, it makes sense." She refused to let Scorpius's naysaying bring down her excitement. "Everyone who cracks the code ends up being prepared and wears a big coat, while everyone else is unprepared. It's a reward for cracking the code. Wear a warm coat." She repeated. "Why would that be important?"

"Because you're going to be cold." Scorpius suggested dryly, standing up and heading to the corner of the library.

"Haha." Rose tilted her head and pondered aloud. "It implies that we're not going to be in the Ministry, because it was certainly toasty enough today that I didn't even bother bringing a coat. So I'd guess that we'll be outside, and for a considerable period of time. Which means that I should prepare for the cold in more ways than just wearing a coat. What are you doing?" She asked Scorpius, who had settled back into his chair and was now flipping through a book.

He didn't answer, just continued turning the pages until he seemed to find what he was looking for. With a loud and satisfied "Ha!" he thumbed down the corner of the page he was on and handed it to her. "Chapter 12: Outdated Auror Codes. They've got a list of all the inactive Auror codes and the first one? The Acro-Pythagro code, the oldest recorded Auror code."

Rose glanced at it and tossed the book aside. "Oh well. It was more fun this way anyway. Are you convinced that we did it right now?"

"No, there's still numerous ways to interpret it." Scorpius folded his arms. "And it would have been much faster if we'd just looked it up. I think you just like making things harder."

"You have to learn to think for yourself, the answer isn't always going to be in the book." She shot him a big grin. "Besides, doesn't it feel good to know you can crack an old complicated code with only your brain? I don't know about you, but I feel like a genius."

He returned her smile cockily. "I always feel like a genius." She threw his book at him. He covered his head with his arms and laughed. "But seriously, there's no way the hidden message is 'Wear a warm coat.' That's so...inane. And it doesn't seem to be worth the effort put into it, even if you looked up the code and cracked it using a book. I mean, most _sane _people would wear a warm coat anyway, it's nearly below ten out there..."

"Well, what do you think it is?" Rose chose to ignore the comment about her sanity.

He rubbed his thumb over the nearly invisible stubble on his chin. "Honestly? 'Near a War Lost' rings more like a hidden message to me. It's worded like a riddle and packs a lot more meaning into it. This is supposed to be something that puts you at a distinctive advantage. All of the Trainees are going to be wearing a warm coat _anyway_. What's the point of hiding that in a message? This is a lot of effort for _them_ to put in. Besides, Ministry officials always use the word 'cloak' instead of 'coat', haven't you noticed?"

"Well, Aurors aren't exactly typical Ministry officials." She argued, her thoughts wandering. "It's easier to blend into the Muggle world with a coat, and they have to go undercover all the time..." She trailed off. Her dad had preferred coats to cloaks for exactly that reason. She remembered one time when he was gone for nearly two months on an undercover mission where he had to live like a Muggle, and when he came back he was full of amusing stories about nearly lighting his little flat on fire because he didn't know how to use the stove, and learning about this incredible magical thing called a computer. "Of course, you're right!" She shouted excitedly, and Scorpius started at her enthusiasm.

"I've never seen you so excited to admit I was right before," He replied with a mixture of wariness and smugness.

Rose waved him off. "No, no, not about your 'Near a Ward Lost' thing, that's stupid. It's important that they used 'coat' rather than 'cloak.' Coat is a Muggle term. Even when they're talking about coats, older wizards always say 'Grab your cloak.' We're the first generation to actually _prefer _coats, because we grew up in a time with heavy magical restrictions, so we're the first generation to say 'coat' when we're referring to a piece of outerwear. It's a _Muggle _term, and why would they use a Muggle term? Because we're going to live as Muggles!"

She beamed at him triumphantly as her words settled in the air. Scorpius gaped at her for several moments of silence before finally opening his mouth to speak:

"And you though 'Near a Ward Lost was stupid?"

"Oh come on, it makes sense!" She insisted. "An increasing amount Auror work has to be done right under Muggle noses now. If we're to avoid drawing suspicion, we have to be trained to blend into the Muggle world."

"So why all the secrecy, then?"

Rose's mind was racing. "Because this is also a test of our abilities to adapt to a new situation - if they told us ahead of time, everyone would prepare beforehand and they wouldn't be able to judge who was better at adapting."

"Then what was the point of the hidden message?"

"To give whoever could solve it an advantage, so we could prepare."

"But then how will they be able to judge if you can adapt well to an unexpected situation?"

"They - I -" Rose glared at him. "You're infuriating."

Scorpius shrugged. "I'm just trying to make you see that there are flaws in your logic." He considered for a moment. "And that I'm right."

"There's flaws in your logic too. They could have encrypted 'Near a Lost Ward' instead, it would have been a simple matter of switching paragraphs around." She challenged him, tossing her messy hair over her shoulder so it didn't get in inkwell. "There was no reason for them to make it grammatically incorrect."

"Well, that could be part of clue." Rose was unsurprised to see Scorpius refusing to yield even an inch of ground to her. "Many old writings put the verb last...mostly because they're translated from Latin. I wonder if that has something to do with it."

She shook her head. "You're going in the wrong direction. Aurors aren't stuffy academics - " He glared at her and she smiled cheekily, " - they're wizards of action. The answer isn't going to be hidden in a book - that's why they chose a code that could be worked out without one. It's going to be up here." She jabbed her head with her finger.

"In your hair?" Scorpius teased.

Rose rolled her eyes. "In my _brain_, you pillock. Aurors solve real-world problems, not hypothetical riddles."

"The Wizarding world is riddled with riddles," He informed her in a sing-song voice. "You'd be an idiot to assume they won't expect you to crack open a few books throughout your Training. I hate to break this to you, but Aurors are the most academic of all the law-enforcement officers."

"I'm not saying I'm not planning on _studying_." Rose snapped at him. He was beginning to sound all too much like her mother. "I'm just saying the answer isn't always found in a book!"

"Of course not." He replied calmly. Scorpius was always much more adept at handling her unreasonable anger than she was his. "But this time I think it is."

"Well _I _think it's undercover training. And I'm the one who gets to decide the correct course of action, so - "

Scorpius laughed derisively. "So you're willing to take the chance that you'll show up tomorrow looking like a fool, all because you're too stubborn to admit I'm right?"

"You're _not _right and it has nothing to do with stubbornness. It's just your opinion against my opinion and I'm the one deciding so -"

"Al." He interrupted.

Rose looked around, but there was no sign of her cousin anywhere. "What?"

Scorpius smirked. "You're exhausted, aren't you? If it's your opinion against mine, we should get Al as a tie breaker."

"I am exhausted, but I'm not the one whose brain function seems to be suffering." She retorted cheerfully, gathering up her liability scroll and their now extremely messy parchment. "Al will side with me, he's a very gut-instinct sort of bloke. Besides, he always sides with me on these things."

"To your face." Scorpius screwed the cap of the inkwell very carefully back on and tucked the book on codes under his arm. "Because he's a true Slytherin and he knows how to pick his battles. But behind your back..." His smirk widened as he carefully selected a few more books from the shelves.

"What are you doing?" She demanded, tapping her foot loudly. Unfortunately the floor was carpet so it did not have the desired effect.

He turned back to her, looking very much like he did whenever he was convinced he was going to beat her on a test. "Gathering ammunition. You've got your gut...I have proof and logic." He breezed out of the library,

She blustered after him, knocking the scroll against the doorway in her rush. "I have logic!" She sputtered. "I deducted from the fact your answer is grammatically incorrect that it's wrong!"

"That's a fallacy." Sang Scorpius, swooping down to pick up her trainers. She snatched them from him with a scowl, not bothering to tie the laces.

When she reached for the doorknob, Scorpius slapped her hand away. "What?"

"It's freezing outside, we're using the Floo." He offered her a handful of powder and she took it with comical reluctance.

"I don't know if I should use this, it's blood money Floo powder."

He snorted. "If you mean I put my blood sweat and tears into earning the money to _buy _that Floo powder, then yeah. Just because my grandparents gave me this house doesn't mean they own everything in it." He shifted awkwardly on the carpet. "Rose, I know you're an Auror now and you have responsibilities, but the things I've told you about my family-"

Rose put her free hand on his shoulder. "Relax," she ordered softly, her previous fury dying down with his anxiety. "Your secrets are safe with me." He put his hand on hers in turn and squeezed. It was an old ritual between the two of them, even predating their friendship. At this point it was silly and unnecessary, but it was a nice reminder of their history.

She stepped into the fireplace and gave him a cheeky grin. "Your ego, however, is _not. _When Al agrees with me, I'm going to rub it in until you start to cry."

His own smile returned. "You're on, Weasley."

* * *

Edit 11/12/13: I added a new ending! And deleted the older A/N because it gave things away ;).

I edited practically this whole chapter, closed my laptop, left home, went to class and after when I tried to save it, the site logged me out and when I logged back in all my changes were gone! Then I pressed the backspace button on my browser window until I got to before it forced me to log back in, and everything was magically there again! Internet, I don't understand you, but sometimes you are magical.

I edited this because I was having an extremely difficult time writing the beginning of the next chapter. I rewrote it twice before coming up with a much more natural idea, which required rewriting the ending. I also made smaller edits in this chapter and chapter one concerning travel limitations (I finally worked that stuff out in my head, I'll stop messing with it, I swear) and the timing (by the time they got back to the flat it was way too late, and they ended up doing more than I had time for them to do).

Next chapter coming in the next few days!


	4. The Bet

Disclaimer: I don't own any of Jo's characters. This actually _includes _Ragmar Dorkins, though I modified his character history a little bit (he was mentioned in these Daily Prophet Clippings Jo released a long time ago around the time of the third book, and some of the information proved to be false, so I took it as quasi-canon and used it for inspiration).

* * *

READ THIS BEFORE READING THE CHAPTER: Go back and re-read the second half of the last chapter if you haven't yet. I made fairly significant changes and this chapter will make absolutely no sense if you don't do so. I also made a few adjustments in the first chapter, mostly having to do with transportation. It was important that I smooth these kinks out now because that will actually (spoiler alert) play an important role later in the story.

And now, to make sure no one who doesn't want to be spoiled doesn't accidentally read this chapter, I will write an incredibly long Author's Note!

I'd like to send out a special shout-out to "Hana", reviewed the last chapter. I wanted to send a PM, but unfortunately it was an anonymous review. First of all, thank you for your awesome and encouraging review! I was incredibly flattered and hope you'll like this next chapter just as much. Secondly, I wanted to thank you for something else. Half a year ago, I was browsing through this site and stumbled upon a rare gem: a truly compelling Next-Generation story. The characters were so well rounded and portrayed that I didn't care they were different from the ones I'd developed in my head. The dialogue was quick and funny, and the protagonist's voice was overwhelmingly unique. Most importantly, the plot was so riveting that I didn't even care if the couple the story was framed around got together or not. I read all the chapters that were posted, then was disappointed that the story was incomplete. A few weeks later, I found the story again and it still wasn't finished. Then I left fanfiction alone for a few months, and when I returned to read more, that particular story had faded to the back of my mind as an interesting but unfinished bit of work. That is, until you left me your review and mentioned "Ignite" by Slide. The name rang a bell so I searched for it. And suddenly I was back in that same story, but this time _all _of the chapters were there. The author had posted the final chapter just days before. So I read to the end, not even thinking about sleep, something I had not done with a fanfiction story since I discovered "Within These Walls" by Solstice Muse (which is one of the few true treasures on this site, in my opinion). Now that niggling feeling at the back of my mind has been replaced with anticipation as I wait for the sequel (you'd better believe I favorite and followed the author), and that is all thanks to you. So I truly extend my gratitude to you, Hana.

As for everyone else, be sure to check out "Ignite" by Slide (And for that matter, absolutely everything by Solstice Muse). It's unbelievably good!

Now without further ado, I give you the fourth chapter!

* * *

The Bet

* * *

Rose was right: Al did not like Scorpius's interpretation.

"That makes no sense," He paced the little living room. Rose nodded her head encouragingly. "'Near a Ward Lost'? No, that's rubbish, Aurors don't talk like that-"

"It's not talking, it's _writing_." Scorpius pointed out. He was seated on their cleanest yet most uncomfortable armchair. Despite him being a frequent visitor to their flat, he never failed to look out of place in his impeccable clothes and posture.

Al glanced at him and shook his head. "Auror's don't _write _like that either. Only people who try to be all mysterious and seer-like write like that. Aurors are direct and to the point. Once you cracked the code, that was it, you're in. 'Wear a Warm Coat' is much more like something they'd leave as a clue."

"Ha!" Rose jumped up and crowed at Scorpius. "See? He agrees with me! It's totally undercover training."

Scorpius scowled, but Al was shaking his head again. "No, I don't think so. That's too much of a stretch and requires a lot of abstract thinking."

Rose was wrong: Al did not like _her _interpretation.

She threw up her hands and turned to him. "Abstract thinking is exactly what they'd want us to do! It's called thinking outside of the box."

"It's called making shit up is what it's called."

"Shut up, Scorpius."

"I meant that it's the kind of conclusion _you _might land on." Al explained, ignoring their bickering. "But someone who, say, was Muggle-born who wouldn't understand the significance of the word 'coat' might not get there. Or someone who didn't know Aurors do a lot of undercover work in the Muggle world. You arrived at that conclusion because of very specific experiences that you've had, the kind of experiences someone just as smart, talented and qualified as you might not have. No, I think it's much more literal…"

"We already went over that," Put in Scorpius, who was looking significantly more cheerful now that Al had shot down Rose. "But most people will be wearing a coat anyway."

"Well, yeah, but what sort of things would you need to wear a warm coat for?" Al pondered aloud. "Outdoor things, obviously. It's freezing out, so you wouldn't have to go far away for it. And the coat instead of a cloak…I think that is significant, because Aurors prefer cloaks. Coats restrict your mobility when you duel, Dad said. But where would they put you at a disadvantage?"

"In Muggle society." Rose piped up.

Scorpius rolled his eyes. "Or anywhere it could get caught. If you needed to make a quick escape – sometimes it can be a disadvantage when you're flying, it gets caught on things."

"Or when you're on the ground somewhere where there are lots of things it can get caught on." Al continued on with Scorpius's thought. "Like a forest." His eyes widened and he snapped his fingers together. "Got it. It's camping. You're going camping."

Rose and Scorpius were both wrong: Al had his own interpretation.

"Camping?"

"That's rubbish!"

"No, it makes sense." Al's eyes were alight with conviction. "It's the perfect bonding experience!"

Rose and Scorpius looked at each other.

"Gee whiz, do you think they'll let us roast marshmallows at the campfire?" She asked him with childish hope.

"Only if you all do your trust-falls properly." He replied in the same tone.

"And then maybe we'll all sit around on logs singing Kumbayah. Oh, I hope they teach us how to make lanyards! I've always wanted to learn. Or maybe _friendship bracelets-"_

"Okay, you prats." Al cut in irritably. "I'm not talking about Muggle camps for children. I'm talking real, hardcore, freeze-your-arse-off camping. And when I said bonding, I mean it'll be a chance for you all to work together. To become a team, in order to survive."

"Merlin, he's got his hero-face on." Scorpius mumbled to Rose, who hid a chuckle behind a cough. Sometimes when Al got really impassioned about something, he transformed from a sardonic smart aleck to an earnest, speech-giving visionary. Rose, who had known Al since they were both in diapers, recognized that Al's sudden change in personality was an unconscious mimicking of his father. It wasn't an eerie connection, or even genetics: Al's brain saw how people responded to his father when he took on a certain tone and put off certain body language, and it filed away that information for use when _he _wanted something done. That was Rose's explanation for it. Scorpius just called it Al's "hero-face."

Al slammed his fist against his palm, apparently not noticing their mocking. " 'Wear a Warm Coat' – yes, it's so simple! Dad always said that if you want to learn someone's true nature, see how they survive in the wild. It's why he never took us camping himself. And it would be a perfect challenge for all of you: to see how you cope with no shelter, no comfort, no water, no food-"

"So you're thinking no marshmallows?" Rose questioned him faux-sadly.

"I'm serious!" He implored her in what he probably thought was a winning voice. Rose thought it sounded more like a whine. "Dad thinks camping is the ultimate test of someone's character, and who designs the Training?"

"Whitebloom." She refuted. "And weren't you saying earlier that _my _idea was a stretch because it depended on a set of very specific experiences? I'd say that having Harry Potter as an uncle would fall under that category!"

"But anyone could get 'camping' from 'Wear a Warm Coat.'" Al protested. "I'm just using Dad as further evidence. And Whitebloom's just in charge of overseeing you lot, right? You're the one who's always saying that our dads revolutionized the departments – don't you think Training would be one of the things they changed?"

This actually made Rose pause. "Whitebloom did mention things used to be different before the war…but your theory just helps further justify mine. Our dads would have thought adapting to the Muggle world would be just as valuable."

"You're both falling under the same fallacy." Scorpius cut in. "This has to be something _anyone _could figure out. And if the answer is hidden in a book somewhere, anyone can find it. Figuring this part out is the beginning of the test! If the correct translation was 'Wear a Warm Coat' that wouldn't signal any further sort of research. Most people would just cross their fingers and show up in a parka. 'Near a Ward Lost' requires more thought and more investigation." He picked up the top book from the stack he'd brought along. "The answer is in here somewhere, I'm going to find it."

Rose tried to snatch the book from his hands, but he was too quick for her and jerked it out of the way, tucking it under his arm. "You're wasting your time. Al and I both agree, that's not the right translation."

"But it could be." She turned to glare at Al. Why did he have to pick now to change his mind? "It could be any of our theories. We won't know until tomorrow." He screwed up his face in concentration, then nodded. "Scorpius should do his research. I'll drop by my house and see if I can't steal some supplies."

Rose sighed. Her head now felt like it was tearing itself in two. All she wanted to do was curl up under her blankets and never come out. "That would just be an even bigger waste of time. I need to be preparing for living undercover, not camping out in the forest."

"And you should do that." Al agreed. "And Scorpius will do his research, and I'll get my supplies. That way tomorrow, you'll be prepared for whatever they throw your way."

Scorpius nodded eagerly. "We should make it a bet. Losers cough up five galleons and the winner gets ten galleons."

"Yes, because I've got five galleons just going spare in my sock drawer." Rose scoffed.

"Five sickles, then." Al compromised. "We all prepare for what we think it is, and whoever's right gets ten sickles."

Scorpius gave a dramatic sigh. "I haven't gambled in sickles since I was twelve." He stuck his hand out, palm down.

Al put his in as well and looked at Rose. "You in?"

She gave them a bemused smile. In their own obnoxious way, they were trying to help her and it was a bit touching. "Only if I get to use your computer." She told Al, putting her hand in.

Al nearly jerked his hand back out. His computer was his baby, his life's work, the pinnacle of his existence. _Nobody _touched his computer. After a few moments of consideration, he gave a beleaguered sigh. "Fine."

"Go team!" Scorpius raised his hand up quickly, causing the rest of theirs to go flying up. He sniggered as Rose's hand hit a nearby lamp.

"Tosser!"

* * *

An hour later, Scorpius was buried in his mountain of books, Al was sorting through a pile of supplies he'd smuggled out of his parents' house and Rose was typing away at Al's computer. Both Scorpius and Al had cartons of Chinese they were picking food out of, but Rose did not. Al had a very strict no-food policy when it came to his computer.

"No food, no drinks, not even water," He'd instructed when he'd carefully placed the enchanted laptop in front of her. "Don't touch the screen, wash your hands before you use it, don't try to move it, and for the love of Merlin no magic. If anything stops working, don't try to fix it, tell me and I'll fix it. Only touch the keyboard and the touchpad. Everything else is off-limits."

In Rose's opinion it was all a bit extreme: she _had _used a computer before, after all. But Al's laptop was unlike any machine on the planet. As a child he'd been more fascinated with Muggle machines than even Granddad Weasley. When he was four instead of trying to put pens in his mouth, he was taking them apart and putting them back together. Rose's Mum said in the Muggle world that was one of the strongest signs that a child would become an engineer. When all other kids began asking for brooms, Al wanted a mobile. He learned the language of computers and the mechanics that made cars run. There was no dispute that Al was Granddad Weasley's favorite grandchild, because he was the first person to properly answer all of his questions.

Al wasn't only interested in Muggle devices though. He loved figuring out what enchantments were used to make Wizarding equipment work and would experiment with different charms on random objects. He'd spent more time in the Ministry as a teenager than anyone else Rose knew, constantly heading to the Department of Magical Equipment Control to appeal for permits to perform enchantments on Muggle objects. It was a surprise to nobody when he went to work for the Department immediately after finishing Hogwarts.

Half of those trips to Magical Equipment Control had to do with his computer. It was a perfect blend of Muggle technology and Wizardry. Al had programmed it so he could direct it with just his thoughts and a few wand movements. It was constantly connected to the Internet no matter where it was and had endless battery life. He'd trained it to have a biting personality and whenever someone searched what it deemed to be a stupid question it would insult the person. If anybody used it without his permission it would display the phrase "INTRUDER ALERT" in big red letters and not allow access to anything. If James came within a foot radius of the laptop, it would emit a shrieking alarm nose and announce, "The git is approaching, I repeat, the git is approaching." Unless, of course, Al didn't want it to. The most remarkable aspect of the machine was that Al could wordlessly, wandlessly, direct the computer to disable all magical properties instantaneously, and enable them just as quickly. If he wanted the computer to wipe itself clean, it would. If he wanted it to pretend to be a Muggle computer, it would do that too. Al was constantly updating it and there were a thousand secret functions Rose had no idea about.

At the moment it was set to behave like a normal computer, with a few exceptions. Rose squinted to read the tiny text on a page and the text grew on its own.

"So I think I'm getting somewhere." Scorpius announced. "I've been looking up old hospitals and there's this one that was called the Ospadal mu Thule which is Gaelic for Hospital of Thule."

"Thule?" Echoed Rose, not looking away from the screen. "I've heard of that, what is it?"

"It was a hidden magical community. An island, located north of British Isles. Back before the International Statute of Secrecy, Muggles knew about it and tried to locate it but never could. Eventually they just wrote it off as a myth. But what's really interesting is that in the mid-eighteenth century, the Island completely vanished from the rest of the Wizarding community. Various attempts and expeditions have been made over the centuries, but the island is simply missing." He closed the book with a satisfied _snap_. "That's your 'Ward Lost.' It's the only hospital that is literally _lost_."

"Okay," Rose replied, diverting her attention away from the WikiHow article entitled _How to Survive the London Underground: 7 Steps. _"Where is it?"

He blinked. "They don't know. It's lost."

She raised an eyebrow. "So you're saying that after figuring out there was a hidden message, decoding that hidden message and deducing that it refers to some obscure lost hospital in the Netherlands, they expect us to _find _said lost hospital that no one else has found before?"

"Of course not, that's why they said 'Near.' You have to go to the general area."

"North of the British Isles is a big area." Al informed him.

"And cold too," Rose shivered. "Al, what do you have?"

He held up a strange looking metal object that was small enough to fit in his palm. "A pocketknife. This thing holds at least twenty different sizes of knives, nail clippers, scissors, a lock-picking device-"

"Great, that'll come in really useful if I forget how to use Alohamora."

Al sighed. "You can't just depend solely on your wand, Rosie. If anything were to happen to it, you need to be prepared."

She picked up her wand and rolled it between her fingers. Ten and three-quarters, aspen and phoenix feather, reasonably supple. She knew every bump and crevice of its wood, had memorized it from all the times her fingers had curled around it. Her wand was her partner, the source of all her confidence. Rose was an incredible spell-caster. She'd been told this time and time again. That was what made her special. She didn't just depend on her wand – it was absolutely fundamental to her existence. "I don't plan on losing my wand, Al, I'd be a sitting gnome without it."

"Well, it's a just-in-case precaution. Besides, some locks that have wards against spells are surprisingly easy to pick with Muggle technology."

Scorpius's head shot up. "Wards! I didn't even think of magical wards! I've got to go get some more books." He headed to the fireplace and took out a pinch of Floo powder from a little bag in his pocket. "I'll be right back!" He called as he vanished in green flames.

"You're both completely wasting your time." Rose crowed. "And you're going to feel really stupid when I come back from this and take your money."

Al shrugged. "Whether we're wrong or not, we haven't had a good chance to hang out like this in a while. Ever since you started picking up more late night shifts and the Leakey…"

"Sorry," Rose grimaced. "I needed the money."

There was an awkward silence in which Al visibly struggled to refrain from saying something meddlesome. In the end he appeared to have succeeded, because he said brightly, "Well, we're all basically on the same schedule – once you get back from this Stage One adventure, that is. It's going to be excellent, like we're back in school again."

"No, it'll be _better _than school." She reminded him. "Because we won't be shut off in separate Common Rooms after hours and you won't have to put up with all the Slytherin slugs. Although," She remembered, "Cynthia is apparently back in town."

Al's head shot up from the pile of woolen socks he was sorting. "No!" He exclaimed in horror.

"Oh yes. And apparently she wants to get back in touch with Scorpius."

"No!" He shouted again, this time louder.

"He agreed to lunch with her."

"No!" As Al was yelling for the third time, Scorpius appeared back in the fireplace with an even larger pile of books. Al leaped to his feet and bounded over to him. "Say it isn't so!" He shouted, shaking Scorpius by the shoulders.

"Say what isn't so?" Scorpius tried to jerk away, but Al had a firm grip on him.

"Say that you're not inviting Cynthia back into our lives. _Please_." He implored Scorpius with wide eyes.

Scorpius squirmed uncomfortably: whether from the question or Al's intrusion of his personal space Rose did not know. "I'm not invitingher into _our_ lives. I'm just having lunch with her – I rescheduled for tomorrow." He informed Rose who was looking at him dubiously.

"Oh, goody."

"Look, I'm not forcing you guys to be friends with her, I can have friends outside of you two." He sat back down in his armchair, looking annoyed. Al followed him, looking utterly despondent.

"But Tuesdays are the only day our lunch breaks coincide." He protested. "That's _our _lunch day! You'd really rather eat with Cynthia?"

"You could eat with us." Scorpius suggested hopefully and, Rose thought, rather naïvely. If there was one person who disliked Cynthia more than Rose, it was Al.

"I'd rather eat by my lonesome, thanks." Al sat back down with a huff. "I swear to Merlin, if you start dating her I'm ending our friendship."

"You and I both know that'll never happen." He replied, and Rose wasn't sure whether he was referring to Al ending their friendship or Scorpius dating Cynthia. Al seemed to relax slightly, so Rose guessed it was the latter. "Besides, I thought you two were starting to get on by the end of school."

"Because we knew we only had a few months before we never had to see each other again!"

"That was a rather naïve assumption on your part." Observed Rose. "Given her obsession with Scorpius." She absently typed, "How Muggles Cook" into the search engine. The computer produced an obnoxious "Error" noise.

"_Muggles don't know they're called Muggles, you twit!" _The computer sneered at her. _"But there are a few articles about Muggle cooking on the International Wizarding Web."_

"Well, why don't you show those, then?" She snapped back testily.

"_You need to ask permission to get onto the IWW." _It sang in an irritating manner that reminded Rose of Peeves.

"All right, can you let me onto the IWW?" She asked.

There was silence. Then: _"What's the magic word?"_

Rose whipped out her wand. "The magic word is that I won't hex you into a million pieces if you let me see those articles."

Al sprang up and knocked away her hand before Rose had time to react. "What did I tell you about magic? And computer, _please _give Rose access to the IWW."

"_Looks like _someone _remembers their manners." _A new search engine popped up entitled, "Accio Knowledge!" As she watched the words "Muggle Cooking" appeared in the search bar and over a dozen results appeared below.

"Oh, excellent." Rose began reading. "_How to Cook Like a Muggle. _'Muggle cooking is a complex art that many wizards have compared to potion-making. Witches and Wizards familiar with Muggle cooking, such as Muggle-borns, should begin in Section 4 which discusses more complicated cooking methods involving stoves and ovens. Those unfamiliar should begin with Section 1: Microwave Meals.'"

She then proceeded to learn about the fine art of Microwave cooking. A few different articles had discrepancy about which materials could or could not be used in the Microwave. To be safe, she decided, she would stick to ceramic plates. She then discovered a few excellent sites about living as a Muggle from a Wizard's perspective: one of them had a list of do's and don'ts that the computer – after some hassle – magically transcribed to a sheet of parchment for her that it seemingly procured out of nowhere.

Scorpius presented her with a small notebook filled with notes about his different theories about what 'A Ward Lost' meant. "I have a strong feeling about Thule." He told her as he gathered up his books into a staggeringly tall pile and levitated them toward the fireplace. "But it could also refer to the Janus Thickley ward in Saint Mungo's – it's on the fourth floor, the Spell Damage floor."

"I've heard that's a terribly depressing place." Commented Al.

"Depressing or not, it's certainly a ward for the lost." Scorpius himself stepped into the fireplace. He gave Rose a nod. "Whatever happens, just make sure you kick ass tomorrow, Weasley."

She gave him a salute. "Yes sir!"

He smiled and Floo'd away.

Al had the largest amount of materials to give to Rose. In the bigger pile, which she now learned was the "To Take" pile, was a fleece jacket, long underwear, socks that wicked the moisture away from her feet, hiking boots, a pair of tight black gloves that Al explained were initially designed to let Muggles access their mobiles without taking off their gloves and would apparently lessen the mild interference gloves caused when casting spells (Rose had never noticed such an interference, but decided to take Al's word for it. He was the expert), and an incredibly stupid-looking hat with little flaps that hung down over her ears. He'd also included a first aid kit (she wasn't sure what the little, sticky bandages were supposed to do that her basic knowledge of healing spells couldn't), a large backpack, matches ( a pocketknife with a million different tools she had no idea how to use, a Muggle headlight, seven boxes of protein bars, a cooking pan, a vial of dittany and a small amount of Polyjuice potion he'd managed to smuggle from his Dad's potions cupboard.

"Al, I'm not a camel!" Rose exclaimed, watching him attempt to shove all of the supplies into the backpack. "And weren't you the one who was talking about a cloak restricting mobility before? _This _will restrict my mobility."

"Most of these things will come in useful for surviving in the Muggle world if you're right." Al pointed out. "And if you have to leave some things behind, leave them behind. Everything's completely replaceable." He said, allowing a sliver of his hidden privileged nature to show. Suddenly he slapped a hand to his forehead. "Oh crap, I forgot your clothes!"

He bounded into her bedroom and Rose followed dubiously. "There's no way you're going to fit all that in there…and if you can, there's no way in _hell _I'm going to carry it."

"We can put everything non-essential in one bag and everything that's either essential or personal in another." Al decided, going to her closet. "And if absolutely necessary, you can leave the non-essential bag behind."

She crossed her arms. "Okay, but you only brought one bag and I only have messenger bag…" She trailed off as he emerged carrying a knapsack. "What's that?"

"It was in the back of your closet. You've never seen it before?" Rose shook her head and Al handed it to her. It was old, weathered and dirty, but the leather was still smooth and un-cracked. There were a few small pockets on the outside where she could imagine storing potions for easy access. Opening it, she saw that while the inside storage space was more than her messenger bag could carry, the knapsack was still too small.

"This is weird." She continued to examine it, opening all the little pockets on the inside. "What was this doing in my closet?" She noticed a zipper that was hidden underneath a flap of leather covering the rim and pulled on it.

"Maybe the last tenant left it behind?" Al suggested.

Rose stared at the knapsack. "I doubt it. Look!" He leaned over her shoulder and gasped when he saw what she was indicating. The hidden zipper opened up to reveal a large hollow that extended far past the constraints of the knapsack. She stuck her hand experimentally down into it until she was shoulder-deep. "That's an undetectable extension charm!" She gasped. "It's really difficult magic, way above N.E.W.T. level. And if it's lasted as long as this knapsack seems to have…" She trailed off admiringly.

"Huh." Al gave the knapsack another once over. "Once it's filled, won't it be impossible to carry?"

"No, that's the beauty of it." Rose traced her fingers over the leather. "There's a Lightening charm wrapped into the Extension charm itself. It's really wonderful magic," She said wistfully. Historically, she preferred the excitement of dueling spells to enchantments, but she was also drawn to the beauty of any complex spell.

"Wicked, I'll have to learn it. I bet it'll come in handy with my work." Al clapped his hands together gleefully. "But for now, it seems God has presented us with a solution to our problem." He tried to take the knapsack from Rose, but her fingers curled over it tightly.

"Do you _really _think this is a coincidence?" She asked him anxiously. "A solution to our problem appears just in time?"

"Haven't you ever heard the expression don't look a gift horse in the mouth?"

"That's only if you know the giver!" Rose retorted. "This could be trick, a trap…there could be dark magic imbued in it."

"Rose," Al explained patiently. "You're not an Auror. You're barely a Trainee. No one's out to get you yet." He pried the knapsack from her grasp. "Besides Cynthia, of course."

"But of course," Rose replied wryly.

* * *

The next morning, she awoke to Al screaming her name in her ear.

"Alright, alright, I'm up." She grumbled. "Why are you here?"

"Your bloody alarm clock woke me up!" He yelled. At that moment Rose realized that the room was shaking and a loud rumble made it nearly impossible to hear anything at all. She grabbed the wand and shook it to silence quickly. Then her eyes glimpsed her clock and widened.

"Shit! It's five forty-seven!" She launched herself out of bed and immediately began throwing off her pajamas, not particularly caring that Al was there. "My alarm was set to go off at six fifteen!"

Al avoided looking at her changing by staring out the window. "Yeah, it took me a while to wake up – at first I thought it was just part of my dream. But it kept getting louder and louder and more violent. Eventually I woke up. You must have been _conked _to not wake up."

"Shit, shit." Rose put on the long underwear Al had laid out for her and reached for a pale blue Weasley sweater. "Why didn't it shake me out of bed?"

"I think you made your blankets into a bit of a nest while you were sleeping." He turned around now, judging it to be safe. "I had to pull some of them off to even see your face. I'm surprised you didn't suffocate yourself."

Rose took a brief moment out of her frantic preparations to pause. Flashes of last night's dream came to her: she'd been with her Dad at the flying park. Suddenly Dementors – but they couldn't really have been Dementors, because they turned into green scaly things with no legs and arms – came and attacked them. Her Dad shielded her with his body until the Dementor-things dragged him away. Then Rose burrowed deep into the ground where they couldn't get her. That must have been when she cocooned herself in her blankets.

She shook it off and pulled on her jeans. There was no time to dwell on frightening and confusing dreams: she had to focus on getting ready. Her thickest winter coat was already hanging from the closet door, along with her Gryffindor gloves and scarf. She donned the outdoor attire and laced up the hiking boots Al had procured from Aunt Ginny's closet. They were a bit roomy – for such a little person, Aunt Ginny had enormous feet – but her thick socks provided a reasonable compensation. Then she practically flew into the kitchen and flung the fridge open. After a brief analysis of its contents, she grabbed an old forgotten carton of fish and chips.

"Nice," Al commented, watching her shovel the deep-fried goodness into her mouth. "What did I tell you yesterday?"

She didn't have time to tell him to shove it, so she settled for glaring instead. Once she was finished, she grabbed the carton of milk and finished the rest of the contents straight from the content. "We're out of milk." She told him, as Al made a disgusted face. "You should get on that."

"You know, I'm going to really miss you," He told her sarcastically as she crossed the room to grab her knapsack. "Who's going to fill my sink with dishes and drink straight from the containers when you're gone?" She made a rude hand gesture and made to leave the flat. Al stopped her frantically. "Oh no, you've got less than ten minutes. Take the Floo."

"Are you sure?"

"I think this counts as an emergency situation. Go on." He ushered her toward the fireplace and she crossed the flat gratefully.

"Thanks Al."

He grinned at her. "You can thank me when you pay up!"

She swore as Flood away. When she arrived she took a deep breath, then made a mad dash across the Ministry.

"'Scuze me!"

"Sorry!"

"Pardon!"

Eventually she arrived at the entrance to the MLE relatively unscathed and panting. She checked her watch. Four minutes to spare. She stepped inside and saw that most of the other Trainees were there already. Except for a few sleepy Ministry officials and Aurors occasionally crossing through to leave – presumably from a night shift – they seemed to be the only people in the department. They were all wearing winter coats aside from the odd boy who wore a thick cloak. Several of them were carrying packs and a few of them were quite large. Most of the Trainees were talking in small clusters, except for the small blonde girl and the odd boy, as well as a large group gathered around Travis Clagg.

Rose moved to a strategic vantage point and watched the group. They consisted of Clagg, Aiden Peirce, Lawson, the boy who'd spoken first yesterday, the haughty blonde boy and another unfamiliar boy with sandy hair. Clagg, Peirce and the blonde boy were all talking loudly and gesticulating wildly, and the unfamiliar boy chimed in every once in a while, looking eager to participate. Lawson was leaning back confidently against the wall. With her height and poise she naturally emanated power and allowed that draw people in for her. The black-haired boy kept glancing over at the other group, looking unsure if he wanted to be part of this alliance that seemed to be forming.

"You're not wanting to join them, are you?"

It was the mousy-haired girl who'd been impressed by Rose's early acceptance. She looked snug but slightly impractical in her pea coat and carried no pack.

"No," Rose replied, turning her attention to the other girl. "I'm analyzing."

"Oh good," The girl fixed a relaxed grin on her face. "Because Clagg's a bit of tosser and I'd hate for a fellow Cannon to get mixed in with his lot." At Rose's surprised look, she continued, "I noticed your shirt yesterday. Usually I've got a hard time getting a good read on new people, but Cannons fans are always great people. Rynn Dorkins." She stuck her hand out.

Rose took it. "Rose Weasley." Her eyes suddenly widened. "Wait, Dorkins? You're not related to Ragmar Dorkins, are you? The coach who lead the Cannons to a record five straight wins in 2002? The one who-"

"Collapsed in shock when they defeated the Falcolns, yeah that's my dad." Rynn was full-on beaming now. "You know, most people who've ever heard of him remember him for the time they lost to Puddlemere in under a minute. But you're a true Cannons fan aren't you?"

"Let's cross our fingers and hope for the best!" Rose quipped and they laughed together. "You can't really be a Cannons fan and focus on the losses. You've got to focus on the achievements – the losses are just what makes the wins seem more amazing."

"Exactly." Rynn nodded her head. "My dad was a Cannons fan from the day he was born – a true Cannon to the soul. He was never much of a player so he went into coaching. After just a little while he quit, because he got tired of the way the sponsors and managers made him look at the team: as losers. He wanted to see the Cannons as underdogs who were just a few lucky breaks and good players away from winning a Title. So he quit and became a fan again. We make it out to every Cannons match."

"My dad was like that too." Rose told her. "He was the youngest out of six boys and I guess he found the Cannons relatable. When I was a baby he'd sneak in and transform my walls bright orange while my Mum was asleep or away, just so I'd be predisposed to liking the Cannons."

"Did it work?"

Rose grinned. "Well, orange _is _my favorite color. No one ever gives me anything orange though, it clashes terribly with my hair."

Rynn laughed again and Rose watched her, feeling much more relaxed than she had upon entering. A tiny paranoid voice told her this could be a trick to get her guard down, but in her gut she knew Rynn was genuine.

"So I don't recognize you from Hogwarts…if you just graduated last year, that's make you four years behind me." Rynn pressed her elbow against a nearby column and rested the side of her head against her face. "What house were you in?"

"Gryffindor. You?"

"Hufflepuff." She said this with a trace of fierce defensiveness. "I think I may be the only one: all the other Trainees I recognize were either Gryffindors or Ravenclaws. I was hoping you were a Hufflepuff. We always have so much to prove, half the Trainees are going to think I'm a joke."

Rose shook her head. "Actually, you lot were my favorites after my own House. The House that's really a joke is Ravenclaw. They've got a few good eggs, but most of them have their heads shoved so far up their arses I'm surprised I can even hear them when they talk." She paused. "Sorry, that was probably inappropriate, most of my friends are blokes-"

"Oh, don't apologize." Rynn waved her off. "This is Auror Training, I'm surprised there wasn't a test on our abilities to swear and insult people. Maybe that's what Stage One is. Though judging from the way some people prepared, it may be some sort of expedition…"

"What did you think of the liability form?" She asked carefully. Until Rose knew the exact parameters of Stage One, she wasn't going to give crucial information away, even to someone she was considering as a potential ally.

Rynn shrugged. "I think it was a bunch of garbage they put together to make sure we had no idea what we were walking into. I figured it was best to dress warm in case we were going outside and travel light." She eyed a nearby boy who nearly toppled over from the weight and size of his pack. "Clearly not everyone felt the same." She fixed her attention back to Rose. "Why do you ask? Was there something I missed between the lines?"

Rose was saved from responding by the sudden entrance of Whitebloom and five other Aurors. To her surprise, Teddy was among them. He hadn't mentioned anything about participating in the Training program, but she supposed that was to ensure she didn't attempt to pry any information from him. Not that he would have let her. He'd ignored her all through the Weasley Christmas Feast, pretending not to hear her even when she asked him to pass the stuffing.

"Trainees," Whitebloom boomed and Rose wondered absently if he had been chosen to oversee Training simply due to his powerful voice. "Gather around the Apparition Orb."

A few Trainees looked around uncertainly, but Rose, the boy with the enormous pack and the small blonde girl headed straight to the giant globe in the center. She felt Rynn follow behind her and saw the other Trainees catch on as well. They all stepped onto the platform and Rose felt a prickle of nervousness. If they were using the Apparition Orb, they were definitely headed outside of London.

"I and my fellow Aurors will be handing out small charms." Whitebloom instructed, as he walked toward them. "You must ensure that you are holding your charm at all times and do not drop it. Those of you who are wearing gloves, take both of them off and stow them in your pockets." Rose and the rest of the Trainees did so. "If you are not holding your charm when the Apparition Orb is activated, you will not be able to travel with the group and will be left behind." He began handing small, unseen objects to Trainees. "If you are left behind, you will not be able to complete Stage One and will be dropped from the program."

"I get the feeling that's his favorite phrase, don't you?" Whispered the boy with the big pack, who was standing to her left. He had a plain but pleasant face and a charming dusting of freckles on his nose. Rose smirked and nodded as Teddy came around and pressed something small and metal into her hand.

"Good luck," She heard from behind her, but when she turned he was gone.

She looked down at the charm. It was made out of some sort of tarnished silver metal, which twisted into a pattern with three major openings. She didn't recognize the symbol, but felt that Scorpius probably would.

"Make sure all your belongings are secure. Anything left behind will not be returned to you and will be donated to the Selbit Home for the Homeless." Rose saw the snub-nosed witch clutch her bag more securely to her side. "Now, press the palm of your hand that is not clasping the charm to the Apparition Orb."

Rose did as instructed and was surprised at how warm it was to the touch. She felt it pulsing beneath her, almost _breathing_. Several murmurs from around the Orb indicated that her fellow Trainees were experiencing the same sensation.

"Make sure as much of your skin is touching the Orb as possible." Ordered Whitbloom. "And press _deeply_. If you can still feel movement underneath your skin, you're not pressing hard enough." Rose pressed against the Orb until she seemed to hit a hard surface and all the warmth went around her hand, like water disturbed in a stream. "Now close your eyes, breathe deeply, and _do not let go of your charm_."

She closed her eyes and clenched her right fist so hard the metal began to bite into her skin. All around her, she could only hear the sound of heavy breaths as they waited for something to happen. The world was unnaturally still. After a moment she began to fear that maybe she wasn't gripping her charm tight enough, and pressed harder against it. Nothing was happening. Why was nothing happening?

Suddenly the ground dropped from beneath her and she felt herself rising up in the air, going so high that she should have hit the glass ceiling of the Auror Atrium but she continued rising still. Her stomach twisted and flipped itself inside out the way that it had when she Apparated successfully for the first time.

And then her feet were on solid ground. That was the first thing she registered.

The second thing was cold.

Unyielding, bitter cold. Not the cold of the London streets. Not the cold of a Hogwarts Quidditch match in February. Not even the cold she'd felt when she'd gone skiing in Russia with her parents. This was the sort of murderous cold that was just hoping to catch you unawares and freeze you down to your bone marrow before you even knew what was happening. It was the cold of songs, stories and death.

Rose opened her eyes. Many of her fellow Trainees, in spite of their coats, were visibly shivering and rubbing their arms. She suddenly felt incredibly grateful for the long underwear Al had forced her to wear.

"Where are we?" Langdon Bletchley asked, hopping from foot to foot.

"The site of the first stage of your Training." Whitebloom answered. He and the other Aurors appeared unaffected by the cold and Rose wondered if they'd cast warming spells on themselves before they arrived. "Please hold out your hands and return the charms." Rose's charm was one of the firsts taken and she hurriedly put her gloves back on. Once all of them were collected, Whitebloom spoke again. "This place is warded against Apparition. The only way to Apparate in is to have physical contact with one of these charms." He pointed to his neck, which Rose now noticed had a necklace hanging around it. "That is how we will Apparate to and from this location. We will not be watching you all the time, but you never know when we will be watching – though I can assure you it will not be while you pee. He added, as if he had heard too many wisecracks at this point in his speech throughout his career. "Mostly we will observe from a distance. If at any point you wish to drop out from the program, simply shoot red sparks from your wand high up into the air. Anyone found in the immediate area will be taken back to Headquarters. However, if you encounter someone who for any reason can not surrender themselves but needs immediate medical attention, you may shoot green sparks into the air and you will not be penalized for staying with your fellow Trainee until an Auror arrives."

Some of the Trainees were scrunching up their faces in confusion, but a few were looking around the snow and ice-covered forest with expressions ranging from determination to outright horror. Rose clutched her knapsack closer to her. She was going to need it.

"If someone shoots up green sparks but no one is incapacitated when the Auror arrives, whosever's wand shot up the green sparks will be taken back to Headquarters and dropped from the program. At no point should you use magic intended to injure or kill any person. If you are found guilty of doing so, you will be dropped from the program." He gestured to the Aurors around him and they began handing out sheets of parchment to the Trainees. "This is a list of all forbidden spells. Treat these as you would Unforgivables: within this location, they are completely traceable and we can tell who cast them, not just which wand was used. Any questions?"

There was a moment of bewildered and tense silence. Then the black-haired boy haired boy spoke up. "So what are we doing here exactly? Is this a race or a fight? Some sort of competition?"

"We're Aurors, Mr. Christopher, not Quidditch players." Whitebloom responded. "This is part of Training. It is the most essential part: the stage that will tell us everything we need to know about you. Here is where we weed out the weak from the strong."

"Okay, but what do we have to do?" Christopher asked him.

The other Aurors returned to Whitebloom and stood behind him. Whitebloom fixed them all with a steely glare. "Survive."

They Disapparated and left the Trainees frozen in shocked silence.

"God damnit." Rose muttered. "I just lost five Sickles."

* * *

A/N: It'll probably be over a week before I get the next chapter out, but when Thanksgiving Break hits I'll be hopefully writing a lot. Stage One will be exciting to write, but the details will be very important so I'll take my time. Expect the first segment of Stage One out in the next few weeks.


End file.
